Tag Archives: Eliot Cutler
Ranked-choice voting is rigging the game, not reforming it
The truth about Tuesday
It’s been less than 48 hours since the polls closed, and already a conventional wisdom is forming about the results that deserves some deep examination. Neither successful Republicans nor disappointed Democrats should leap to the easy conclusions about Tuesday — this would lead to both making mistaken assumptions about their future course. The first picture emerging […]
On Tuesday, vote for real leadership
A controversial, reform-minded Republican governor who’d received national attention running for reelection. A congressman, a pillar of the Democratic establishment who’d been in various offices for decades, running against him. An independent who couldn’t win, but who could nevertheless get enough votes to affect the outcome. The year? 1990. The governor? John McKernan. The challenger? […]
New poll gives LePage solid lead, destroys spoiler myth
If they didn’t see it last night when it was first posted, Democrats woke up to some bad news this morning: The new nonpartisan Portland Press Herald/UNH poll gave incumbent Paul LePage a 10-point lead over Congressman Mike Michaud in the race for Governor, 45-35-16. The results are bad news for Michaud on a number of levels. First […]
A campaign about nothing
Nearly two decades ago, one of the most popular and culturally significant sitcoms of all time, Seinfeld, famously described itself as a “show about nothing.” That tag line stuck, since rather than having one overarching theme, the show derived its humor from simply following its characters’ day-to-day lives. It provided a postmodern take on everyday […]
Michaud Again Ducks Tough Questions
What do you get for the congressman who’s dodged every tough question he’s ever gotten? More tough questions, of course. Just because Mike Michaud refuses to answer tough questions doesn’t mean the people asking them should give up. The Maine GOP today released what appears to be tracker footage of Congressman Michaud on Capitol […]
Is Angus’ endorsement a king’s ransom or fool’s gold?
The worst-kept secret of Maine politics is finally out of the bag, as independent U.S. Sen. Angus King waded into the Maine gubernatorial race, endorsing his friend and fellow independent Eliot Cutler. The fact that virtually everybody knew this was coming — not only did King endorse Cutler in 2010, but Cutler returned the favor […]
Democrats, Republicans prove Eliot Cutler is a real independent
The recent revelation that Democrats attempted to recruit Eliot Cutler as their 2014 gubernatorial candidate should come as no surprise, even after they ran one of the nastiest campaigns in Maine political history against him. After all, after attacking him constantly in 2010 the Democrats’ tactic in 2014 has been to suggest that he ought […]
Michaud ducks decision on immigration issue
Recently, a new crisis with the potential to threaten national security has arisen. This time, it’s not in Israel, Syria, Ukraine, or Iraq, but in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The recent flood of illegal immigrants across our border with Mexico has a destabilizing effect in this country, on our economy as well as […]
Maine needs real tax cuts, not recycled gimmicks
Recently the conversation in the Maine gubernatorial race has returned to a familiar topic: taxes. This had been a major topic all along, of course, with Gov. Paul LePage proposing a referendum on tax reduction as part of his State of the State address. The Democrats, meanwhile, have been running against the bipartisan tax cuts […]
There are no spoilers in politics
There has been much hand-wringing of late in Maine politics over the possibility of there being a “spoiler” in the gubernatorial race in the form of independent candidate Eliot Cutler, who at the moment is trailing Democrat Mike Michaud and Republican Paul LePage. There have been calls for Cutler to abandon the race (and, presumably, […]