Free Republic

Kaci Hickox didn't go to the polls. She instead opted to vote via absentee ballot on Monday, her lawyer told ABC News. Hickox's boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, told ABC News today, "We voted yesterday in absentia, and you can guess who we voted for. We encourage all the good people of Maine to join us in returning decency to Blaine house." Blaine House is where the Maine governor, now Paul LePage, has traditionally resided for nearly 100 years. The incumbent Republican who's in a competitive race for re-election had tried to force Hickox to take a blood test. LePage has polled...

Maine Could Elect The Country's First Gay Governor – But LGBT Activists Are Split Democrat Mike Michaud is in a neck-and-neck race with incumbent Paul LePage but he persistently voted against gay rights legislation before coming out Jon Swaine 1 November 2014 The man who may soon be the first openly gay person elected as a governor in the US sat silently in Maine’s house of representatives as an older colleague embarked on a homophobic tirade against the anti-discrimination proposal that they were considering. “I don’t see them as gay because they never smile, they have got that withdrawn look,”...

Ever since Mitt Romney's "47 percent" disaster-gaffe in 2012, national Republicans have tried to shirk their image as welfare-hating, green eyeshade–wearing budget choppers. Even Paul Ryan, the former head of the congressional Ayn Rand fan club, now talks about expanding the scope of welfare programs to return more of their dependents into productive workers. But Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), himself the product of a poor and disordered childhood, is not following the national herd. He's promising more cuts, and not exactly masking his rationale. Last year, he even took up the 47 percent number, saying "about 47 percent of...

Republican Governor Paul LePage has pulled ahead of Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud by one point in Maine's gubernatorial race. LePage picks up 41% of the vote to Michaud's 40% in a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Maine Voters. Independent Eliot Cutler is in a distant third with 16% of the vote. One percent (1%) prefer another candidate in the race, while three percent (3%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or...

On August 9 Gabby Giffords will "[try] to resurrect gun control" by appearing in Maine to raise money for gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud (D). Michaud is currently the U.S. Rep. for Maine's 2nd District. According to the Associated Press, Michaud says he and Giffords formed a friendship as "conservative 'blue dog' Democrats" during their time together in Congress, and he stands with her in pushing for more gun control now in the area of background checks.

When the intensely private Rep. Mike Michaud laid bare his private life and announced he’s gay, one openly gay congressman joked that the Maine Democrat had never registered on his “gaydar.” As he prepares to return to Capitol Hill this week as the seventh openly gay member of the U.S. House, Michaud said the decision to come out this week was a positive experience that drew support from fellow congressmen and hundreds of constituents—even if it was political nastiness that prompted his announcement. … Michaud, who’s engaged in a three-way race for governor, used an op-ed provided to two newspapers...

House Democrats passed the 2,032-page Pelosicare bill on a near party-line vote Saturday night 220-215 (roll call here). The only Republican voting in favor of the measure was New Orleans-based Joseph Cao who has long ago proven to be a tax and spend (and spend and spend) liberal. After a week of intense arm twisting, threats and promises from party leaders, more than half of the 52 so-called conservative Blue Dog Democrats voted in favor of the over $1.3 trillion measure. These are the 28 Blue Dogs voting in favor of Pelosicare (who apparently fear the wrath of House Speaker...

Bob Stone Announces Bid for Congress Press Release Bob Stone for Congress For Immediate Release January 11, 2004 Bob Stone of Lewiston is announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional district. Stone, a Lewiston native and businessman, said his focus as Congressman will be to reverse the stunning decline in the 2nd district’s economy; to create a positive environment for jobs; to support President George W. Bush in our on-going, global War on Terror and to lower Federal income taxes. A graduate of Lewiston High School, Stone earned a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University...

WASHINGTON — Thousands of Maine families with low or moderate incomes won't qualify for the $400 child tax credit that more-affluent families will receive under the tax cut signed by President Bush. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe and congressional Democrats criticized Republican congressional leaders Thursday for refusing to make low-wage earners eligible for the increased child tax credit. In the tax-cut compromise struck by negotiators in a House-Senate conference committee, the increased credit was made available only to families that earned enough to pay taxes. In Maine, that means the parents of an estimated 40,000 children won't benefit from the credit....