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AUGUSTA, Maine — Pressure is mounting on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state’s caucuses, at least until all votes have been counted. The Maine GOP announced Saturday that Romney narrowly edged Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36 percent, in a nonbinding presidential preference poll taken during the caucuses. The margin was fewer than 200 votes. A number of communities were not included in that poll because they had not held their caucuses by the deadline spelled out by the state party. Washington County Republicans postponed their caucuses, originally scheduled for Saturday,...

After seeing yet another controversy regarding the outcome of the Maine elections, where once again Mitt Romney may have been declared the winner of a caucus when the final tally is in question due to only 84% of the caucuses being reported and conducted because of "weather" - why do I feel like we are becoming a 3rd world country? (It's a rhetorical question; I know the answer.) Think about how much it benefited Romney for the three weeks the final votes seemed to mysteriously disappear in Iowa (or whatever the hell the excuse was). For three weeks the moderate...

Yesterday, the Maine Republican Party declared Mitt Romney the winner of Maine's caucuses, which were conducted over multiple days. Romney got 39% (2,190 votes) and Ron Paul got 36% (1,996). Rick Santorum finished third and Newt Gingrich fourth. Yet in a message to supporters last night, the Ron Paul campaign suggested at chicanery over Maine's decision to declare Mitt Romney the winner before all the votes were counted. Campaign Manager John Tate called the Washington County GOP decision to postpone the caucus for snow an "excuse." Tate even mocked the decision after the predicted three to four inches of snow...

Rep. Ron Paul not conceding Maine voteBy Josh Lederman - 02/12/12 12:46 PM ET Rep. Ron Paul is not conceding the GOP’s Maine caucuses, which state party officials and major networks called Saturday for rival Mitt Romney. With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Romney has 39 percent to Paul's 36 percent, and Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster declared Romney the winner Saturday night, following a week-long series of caucuses. But in Washington County, where Paul had expected to perform well, the caucus was postponed until Feb. 18 due to an expected snowstorm. Washington County Republican Chairman Chris Gardner told the...

What an absolute shocker - the state that has plagued us with Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins is now trying to gift us with Mitt Romney. Return to Sender. Put the GOP elite on notice. Sign the petition (linked above) and Join the movement.

PORTLAND, Maine — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney narrowly edged Texas Congressman Ron Paul in Maine’s nonbinding GOP presidential preference poll on Saturday, ending a string of defeats for the Republican front-runner. According to unofficial results announced Saturday evening by Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster, Romney took 39 percent of votes during statewide caucuses held during the last few weeks. Paul finished second at 36 percent. “It’s good news. I’m hopeful this ends Romney’s little slide,” Maine House Speaker Robert Nutting said shortly after the announcement. “Romney is the best candidate to beat President Obama in the fall.” Peter...

Mitt Romney is in danger of losing his fourth straight state in Saturday's caucuses in Maine, where he and his allies have been all but absent from TV. That's no coincidence. Over the past month, he has won in states where he and an allied super PAC, called Restore Our Future, have pounded his rivals with millions of dollars in negative ads. But he has tended to lose big when he has stopped using his power to crush other contenders by spending a ton of money — particularly on TV.

Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster told The Associated Press that Romney is expected to speak Friday evening at a rally at Portland Yacht Services.

Kim Pettengill, GOP state committeewoman from Kennebec County, said she didn't know about two of them coming until she got calls Friday evening from the campaigns of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania, saying they would send representatives to Saturday's caucus. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's son Tagg Romney already had been expected to attend. More than 300 Republicans from across Kennebec County attended the caucus. GOP activists were asked to hold local caucuses between Feb. 4 and 11, and more than 30 of them were being held Saturday statewide. Republicans from...

BANGOR, Maine — They tried to play nice, but it was pretty clear at Saturday’s Penobscot County super caucus that the Republican candidates vying for U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s senate seat are not happy with her actions in Washington.Snowe, a three-term senator and former eight-term U.S. House member, was the first to speak at the political gathering of Republicans from 25 municipalities. They came together at Husson University to elect delegates to the state convention in May and participate in a presidential preference straw poll.“Regardless of who the nominee is, come 2013 we will have a Republican back in the...

Wedding bells will soon be ringing for Sen. Susan Collins. The Maine Republican is engaged to Thomas Daffron, 73, the chief operating officer for the D.C.-based Jefferson Consulting Group. According to the consulting group’s website, Daffron served as chief of staff to former Sens. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and William Cohen (R-Maine). He was also a speechwriter for the late Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.), a campaign manager for former GOP presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole, and a consultant during all three of Collins’ Senate campaigns. Collins, 59, has never been married.

Updated Full Primary/Caucus Calendar Jan 3 Iowa (caucus) 28 Delegates 28 Unbound - Allocation at State Convention Jan 10 New Hampshire (primary) 12 Delegates 12 Bound - Proportional with 10% threshold Jan 21 South Carolina (primary) 25 Delegates 25 Bound - Winner-take-all per statewide vote Jan 31 Florida (primary) 50 Delegates 50 Bound - winner-take-all per statewide vote Feb 4 Nevada (caucus) 28 Delegates 28 Bound - Allocated on results of primary Feb 4-11 Maine (caucus) 24 Delegates 24 Unbound - Convention elects delegates Feb 7 Colorado (caucus) 36 Delegates 36 Unbound - Allocated at State Convention Minnesota (caucus) 40...

It’s a two-man race in the Pine Tree State. But the contest isn’t between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich; it’s between Romney and Ron Paul. In 2008, Paul won third place in Maine’s caucuses with 18 percent of the vote. But he was only 178 votes shy of tying John McCain for second. And this year, with an extra push, Paul might just be able to win the state outright. “The Paul campaign has really dedicated the resources to the state that make it possible for them to win the caucuses,” says Ken Lindell, chairman of the Maine Republican Liberty...

(CNSNews.com) – Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has pledged multiple times that he would repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law. However, his repeal proposals are light on specific details. “If I were president, day one I will take action to repeal Obamacare. It's bad medicine. It's bad economy. I'll repeal it,” Romney said at the Jan. 26 GOP debate in Florida. “And I believe the people -- I believe the people of each state should be able to craft programs that they feel are best for their people.” However, Romney’s plans...

Updated Jan. 31, 2012: Support for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has remained one of the few constants during the Republican nomination race. But as contenders to Mr. Romney have emerged and then faded, the GOP still seems hesitant to embrace him. The most recent candidate to play the Anyone But Romney role is former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who recently finished first in the party’s South Carolina primary. The National Post’s graphics team takes a look at the ups and downs of the race so far. [great grapics at source]

Newt Gingrich is fighting for nothing less than the soul of the Republican Party, says political analyst Howard Fineman. Fineman’s assessment came as he discussed the Florida primary race and the GOP presidential contest in general with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and former national Republican Chairman Michael Steele on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” Monday night. Noting that Gingrich has vowed to stay in the presidential contest through the national GOP convention in Tampa, Fla., in August, Fineman observed that some of the former House speaker’s friends "strongly advised him to go all the way to the convention, and they didn't have...

AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on Monday began reviewing a bill that would allow state employees to leave guns locked in their cars as long as they have a concealed weapons permit. The bill is designed to amend a hotly debated bill passed last year. That bill, LD 35, allowed private workers to keeps guns stowed in their vehicle. This proposal, LD 1603, sponsored by Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon Falls, would broaden the law to include state employees. The current proposal was introduced as an emergency bill. While it focuses on state employees, most of the testimony in front of the Legislature's...

DUNEDIN, FLORIDA, January 31, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As polls show Mitt Romney poised to win the Florida primary, some are questioning his wisdom in seeking the advice of a climate scientist who wrote in favor of compulsory abortion for American women. ... As governor of Massachusetts, Romney asked current Obama administration Science Czar John Holdren for advice on a plan to impose statewide limits on carbon emissions from power plants. President Barack Obama has made a similar proposal as president. A December 7, 2005, press release states, “In the development of greenhouse gas policy, Romney Administration officials have elicited input...

1) He's not a conservative. There have been a lot of conservatives who've talked a good game during the primaries and then have let us down in D.C., but if Mitt Romney becomes the nominee and gets elected, some people seem to be hoping that he'll be the first Republican moderate to go to D.C. and turn into a fire-breathing conservative. Based on his record, if Mitt Romney is nominated, he will be the least conservative candidate since Nixon. >snip 2) He doesn't believe in anything politically other than Mitt Romney. What conservative cause has Mitt Romney ever fought like...

Sarah Palin now on Hannity busting the GOP-e for lying about Newt!! Newt up next!!

The 2012 Republican primary race has passed well beyond the rabbit hole into some extra-dimensional bizarro world where up is down, black is white and the allies of the candidate who disavowed Reaganism would have us believe that the leader of the “second stage of the Reagan Revolution” is somehow insufficiently Reaganesque. It’s no secret that the GOP establishment backs Mitt Romney. The same folks who gave us John McCain and Bob Dole have picked their winner. When Mr. Romney is down, their panic shows. They start floating desperate ideas like late-entry candidates or a brokered convention. They also pull...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was joined by President Ronald Reagan's son Michael on Monday morning in Jacksonville, Florida. Michael Reagan is supporting Mr. Gingrich for the presidency and helping Mr. Gingrich fend off critics who say that the former speaker did not have a politically close relationship with his father. "One of the reasons I was glad Michael agreed to come on is that there’s been a question raised by the establishment as to whether or not I was really in any way active with Ronald Reagan," said Gingrich to a group of supporters in meeting room...

As it turns out, Maine Republicans in a few towns will caucus this Saturday (January 28). The original plan I spoke with the Maine Republican Party about back in September revolved around the idea of holding caucuses within a window from February 4 and February 11 with a big reveal on that final date. That is still mostly true as most of the caucus venues will hold party meetings within that window. However, there are a few caucuses that branch out quite far from those two bookend dates. The collective caucus Lincoln, Lowell, Burlington, Chester, Enfield, Winn and Howland will...

LEWISTON --Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday he will close schools on April 1 if the Legislature doesn't act quickly to plug a $221 million hole in the Department of Health and Human Services budget. Gov. Paul LePage said the cuts are necessary because the state is out of money. He said of those who don’t believe his numbers, “either they are being dishonest to the Maine people or they can’t count.” He urged residents to call their legislators "to tell them to get going" on his proposal, saying time is of the essence. "A lot of Democrats still think we're...

Help Maine's Tea Party governor get Medicare cots under control by removing able bodied adults from the Medicaid rolls. Poll is down on the left. Vote Yes!

Set record with 239-foot driveA pair of daredevils from Maine have powered a small car to a world record fueled by soda and candy. Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz created a car that was powered by 54 bottles of Coke Zero and 324 pieces of Mentos. The car, named Mark II, set a record by traveling 239 feet. To get it moving, the rocket car uses a simple piston mechanism, they explain on their website EepyBird.com. However, they warn that the force is powerful and no one should try it home. Their previous attempts got it to travel 220 feet....

The Collins-McCaskill jobs bill contains some good initiatives (boiler MACT delay, consolidation of federal workforce) but undermines its intended purpose by raising taxes on some of America’s largest employers—American oil and natural gas producers. Impact on Maine Maine has no natural gas or oil reserves within its borders, making Maine’s citizens completely dependent on the lower 48 for their heating and driving needs. An absence of fossil fuels is especially concerning for Mainers since 80% of the state’s households are heated with fuel oil. More Taxes, Less Jobs Oil and natural gas producers are responsible for about 9.2 million jobs...

AUGUSTA, Maine -- The Maine State Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Friday that human remains discovered six weeks ago in an unused freezer inside a Lewiston storage unit are those of Kitty Wardwell, who disappeared in 1983 at the age of 29. The M.E.'s Office also has ruled that Wardwell's death was a homicide but her cause of death is being withheld, according to Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. The M.E.'s Office said the remains were identified earlier this week through DNA testing at a Pennsylvania laboratory. McCausland said the results were forwarded Thursday to...

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is financially outpacing her Republican and Democratic challengers, according to her recently released campaign finance report. Snowe had more than $3.2 million on hand as of Sept. 30, according to the report filed with the Federal Election Commission. During the third quarter of 2011, Snowe's campaign raised $792,305 and spent $320,716, the report said. Snowe is seeking her fourth term in the Senate, but unlike in previous years, the moderate is facing challenges from both Democrats and within her own party. Scott D'Amboise, one of two tea party-affiliated GOP challengers, raised "'six figures," but will not...

In a few 2012 Senate races, tea- party challenges seemed almost inevitable. Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R), Virginia Senate candidate George Allen(R), Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar (R), and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) were all expected to face tough competition on the right. But so far, serious challenges in all three races have failed to materialize. Maybe it’s a case of tea-party groups firing too early. Some of these incumbents have been targets since before last fall’s election. That’s given them plenty of time to react. They also know to take these challenges seriously, because they saw firsthand the damage...

I am posting this VANITY today because one by one, we must rid ourselves of "Republican" Senators that very rarely battle for the values of conservatives. From this article, Johanns Sees ‘Change in Mood’ for Tax Increase, here is a perfect example: Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said Tuesday that she had formulated a plan to pay for the extension of a payroll tax holiday for American workers with a tax increase on high earners that carved out employers, so they would not be hit with higher rates. Democrats are seeking to reduce the Social Security payroll tax paid...

The story goes that these guys from Maine dressed their truck up with a hunter dummy spread-eagled on the roof of the crew cab- then they put on the moose heads. After cruising down the 95 awhile (causing accidents), they were pulled over... no word on the charges. More news/views/humor at Reaganite Republican

We hear a lot about job creators these days. But Drew Graham, president and founder of Ship-Right Solutions in South Portland, has taken that one big step farther. He's a life saver. "She's a terrific investment," Graham said Friday, sitting in his small conference room with receptionist Mary Plummer. "This is not a big company and I'm not a sit-in-the-ivory-tower president. I'm working -- and I know when somebody knows what's going on." Plummer, 30, is a single mother of three -- Elizabeth, 5, Tyler, 3, and 1-year-old Emma. A resident of Maine since moving here from New Hampshire in...

Federal immigration agents assisted by police conducted raids at several restaurants Wednesday, including one in Portland. PORTLAND — Federal agents detained at least four people in a sweep of Asian restaurants Wednesday as part of a multi-year, multi-state investigation allegedly involving money laundering, illegal financial activities and the harboring, hiring and transporting of illegal aliens. United States attorneys filed a complaint in the United State District Court in Portland on Wednesday accusing the "Zhang Operation" — which owns restaurants in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — of operating "safe houses" where they stored Asian and Hispanic illegal aliens. The Cumberland...

ANDOVER, Maine — Maine State Police said a man accused of breaking into an Andover home told them his dog and Jesus made him do it. Police say the man was squatting at a home in the western Maine community last week while the homeowner was on vacation.

BANGOR, Maine — The Eastern Maine Labor Council levied its support behind Occupy Bangor demonstrators Friday, arguing that the government’s economic practices have backed financial institutions and large corporations while leaving behind struggling middle-class workers. The EMLC, which represents 34 unions with more than 6,200 members, voted unanimously Monday to endorse the Occupy movement, according to EMLC President Jack McKay.

Cincinnati Fire Fighters (IAFF) member Doug Stern says yesterday’s overwhelming rejection of Gov. John Kasich’s (R) attempt to eliminate collective bargaining rights of workers like firefighters, nurses, teachers, bridge inspectors and others shows: [T]he citizens of Ohio spoke and they made it loud and clear that the focus of government should be on creating sustainable middle class jobs, rather than  pushing a partisan political agenda. Stern, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Louise Foresman, a member of Working America from Cleveland, took part in a telephone press conference this afternoon about the stunning victory for working families that sent Issue 2 down to...

When people from away think of Maine, what’s the first thing that comes to their minds? “Isn’t it winter there, like, ten months a year?” “I think it’s part of Canada. Or Sweden.” “Stephen King is the governor. Or the governor is some other psycho like him.” Which just goes to show that people from away are idiots. What they’re supposed to think of when the subject of Maine comes up is a rockbound coastline with lighthouses, lobsters being plucked from the sea and plopped into steamers, hardy rural types tapping maple trees each spring in order to listen in...

BANGOR, Maine — Occupy Bangor protesters who have camped out overnight on Bangor Public Library property since last weekend have expressed their views peacefully thus far, according to library officials. As a result, the library’s board members on Tuesday voted 6-2 not to adopt a policy that would prohibit the demonstrators from camping out on library property after 10 p.m.

LAS VEGAS — For most Republican politicians, there is no smear more loathed, more insulting or more politically perilous than to be called a RINO — a Republican in Name Only. Not for Linda Lingle. “I’ve been called a RINO before, which I don’t mind,” the former Hawaii governor told a crowd of diehard Republican activists huddled in a Las Vegas ballroom. “There are a lot of people who support these RINOs, whether it’s me or [former New York Mayor] Rudy Giuliani or [former New Jersey Gov.] Christine Todd Whitman.”(snip) And from Lingle’s point of view, moderate Republican candidates such...

1. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. 2. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. 3. Jon Tester, D-Mont. 4. Scott Brown, R-Mass. 5. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah 6. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. 7. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio 8. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. 9. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine 10. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

BANGOR, Maine — Occupy Bangor is planning a series of events Saturday in Bangor starting with a rally at noon at Peirce Park on Harlow Street, but the city said it won’t allow the group’s members to camp out in the park after hours. “The City has an interest in maintaining our parks for the use and enjoyment of all our citizens and visitors,” City Manager Catherine Conlow said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “All those who wish to visit our parks must abide by the rules for their use, just as they must observe other laws designed to protect...

PORTLAND, Maine — Members of Portland’s Occupy Maine encampment have increased security shifts and moved their kitchen area to within view of nearby Cumberland County Courthouse video cameras after a chemical bomb incident early Sunday morning. “We moved the kitchen away from the road, so we’re not as vulnerable to a potential attack like that,” said Macy Lamson at Occupy Maine’s tent community in Lincoln Park Tuesday. Fellow Occupy Maine member Shane Blodgett said police told the demonstrators, who are camped out in part in protest of corporate influence on government, that investigators have a suspect in the case. A...

<p>PORTLAND, Maine — Portland police are looking for the person who tossed a homemade chemical bomb into the Occupy Maine encampment over the weekend.</p> <p>Police Chief Michael Sauschuck said three to four people were up and about at the time, but none of them were hurt early Sunday. He said detectives don’t necessarily believe Occupy Maine was the sole target because another device was set off elsewhere that night.</p>

BUCKSPORT, Maine — A 230-year-old Bucksport landmark that has hosted presidents, arctic explorers and other famous figures but has sat lifeless for the better part of a decade is about to go on the auction block. The Jed Prouty Inn, as the building is still known, is a 17-bedroom former hotel that has anchored Bucksport’s Main Street in one form or another since about 1780. Now the financial firm that acquired the building after the last business closed nearly eight years ago is hoping a buyer will emerge during an online auction held Tuesday through Thursday. Bidding will start at...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A tea party candidate who plans to run against Sen. Olympia Snowe in next year's Senate Republican primary is inviting Snowe to debate him.

LePage wants benefits fraud crackdown PRESQUE ISLE -- Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday that he wants to more than double the number of fraud investigators in the state to crack down on those who abuse the benefits provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. "The last administration did not want to prosecute fraud," he said during a town hall meeting in Presque Isle. "We do." LePage said there are only 11 fraud investigators across the state now, but he thinks there should be two per county -- which would total 32. The comments came as LePage and members...

BANGOR, Maine — A local woman saw a young couple opening water bottles and dumping out the contents in front of Shaw’s grocery store on Saturday and pulled out her iPhone and videoed the two brazenly committing the common food stamp scam. She then went into the store at around 1:30 p.m. to report what she saw and police were called to investigate the fraud. The Bangor couple, a 23-year-old man and a 17-year-old female who turned 18 on Sunday, told the investigating officer that they had purchased two cases of water with funding provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance...

Six months after going from a small-town mayor to the governor’s mansion on a wave of anti-establishment fervor, LePage hasn’t pulled any punches. The 62-year-old chief executive has rolled back business regulations, trimmed Maine’s welfare system, signed the biggest tax cuts in state history and annoyed just about every interest group along the way. His first act as governor was an executive order ending Maine’s status as a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants. He also laughingly told the NAACP to “kiss my butt.” Then there was the time when he removed a mural, depicting the history of Maine’s labor...

The year is 2020, just nine years from now, and the state is facing one of its worst budget crises in years. A new governor and legislature are grappling with the inescapable fact that before they can spend a penny on schools, roads or welfare, they have to pay a $760 million bill — almost all of it debt from the past. The bill has come from the Maine pension system. And if the state doesn’t pay every cent of it right on time, it will be in violation of the Maine constitution. The problem: the bill eats up 20...