Tea Party Candidate Wins Maine's Republican Gubernatorial Primary

Associated Press ^ | 06/08/2010 | GLENN ADAMS

[tonyome]

None of the networks even wanted to mention Maine last night, but the Tea Party candidate for Governor, Paul LePage, who was never expected to win according to recent polls, shocked the establishment by running away with the Republican nomination and defeating his closest competitor by 20 points.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Can he win the general?

[tonyome]

There is a good chance he can win. Maine is very liberal, but the Democrat nominee is a very far left, big government, union backed liberal and there are also 3 Independents running in the race.

[Gritty]

Isn't this the guy who was abused at home and spent his teen years homeless? If so, I saw a video clip on him telling his life story and it was one of the most inspiring stories I have seen. Talk about a courage and success story!

He would make a great Governor (and President)!

[Joann37]

“None of the networks even wanted to mention Maine last night, but the Tea Party candidate for Governor, Paul LePage, who was never expected to win according to recent polls, shocked the establishment by running away with the Republican nomination and defeating his closest competitor by 20 points.”

You’re not kidding. I didn’t even know Maine had a gubernatorial election going on. It was NOT mentioned, even on Fox (from what I remember).

[MNJohnnie]

Lead the way Maine. Lead the way.

[nmh]

WHOA!

That’s impressive.

Can he win the general?

[rightwingintelligentsia]

If you look at Politico, the front-page story (at least when I checked) was entitled “The Center Fights Back.” They only trumpeted the primaries won by so-called moderates.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

First the new GOP platform, and now this!

We gotta do something, we gotta put a stop to this!

/establishment GOP insiders

[who knows what evil?]

Geez...I’m in New England and I didn’t hear about this...

[green iguana]

Can he win the general?

Should be interesting. Maine had about 25% voter turn-out yesterday.

With about 83% of precincts reporting, 95,000 voted in the Dem primary. 100,000 voted in the Republican.

[tonyome]

Going into yesterday, people thought it was going to be close, and maybe come down to Otten and Abbott. Abbott is a long time Susan Collins staffer, and was endorsed by most of the party leadership. Otten, co owner of the Red Sox, and Poliquin, a businessman, each spent over a million of their own money in the race. LePage was popular with the rural grassroots of Maine, but no one expected him to just blow away the field. Even LePage himself was shocked.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Awesome! Is there any place with a county-by-county breakdown of the vote?

[green iguana]

Select the county at the top. Gotta do it one-by-one tho’...

http://www.sunjournal.com/election/results

[who knows what evil?]

I'm digging thru Maine media...they are all over Mitchell, natch...

Someone in the Portland paper 'comments' section refered to this Mitchell/LePage race as 'moonbat vs. conservative'...sure sounds like it. LePage's victory was quite the shocker, based on comments in paper.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Thanks!

[milagro]

"As Maine goes, so goes the nation."

Old "saw" often repeated on election days. Have no idea of its origin or validity--but one can hope!!!!

[armymarinemom]

Our town had a pretty good turnout. We did pretty well with gains on independents from what I heard. Victory on the Gubernatorial race is to be celebrated but I still wish that we could gt Mainers to stop voting yes for every bond issue put in front of them.

[Crichton]

Going into yesterday, people thought it was going to be close, and maybe come down to Otten and Abbott.

Les Otten for public office was never a good idea. Collins and Snowe have been putting up staffer for other offices for years now with no success.

It's refreshing to see an energized conservative movement in Maine and an actual homegrown candidate with grassroots support!

[raybbr]

What’s the “new GOP platform”? (I’m almost afraid to ask)