Just received a release from Mike Hein – who, incidentally just sent me something about Bob Emrich running for Josh Tardy’s seat in the Maine House as well – ringing the bell on Dean Scontras for Congress.

The release (which can be viewed here) notes a recent meeting between staff members of the Christian Civic League of Maine and Scontras, who was apparently in Belgrade to give a talk to local conservatives.

It goes on to detail the CCL’s support of Scontras in the 2008 CD-1 primary, including its endorsement of him (the first time they had endorsed anyone in decades, according to the release) due to his “bold and unapologetic stand” in supporting the pro-life movement and “pro-family” issues.

Full release here:

Staff members of the League took a pleasant break from their busy routine Monday night and travelled to the snow-covered town of Belgrade to renew an acquaintance with an old friend, Dean Scontras. Dean was in town to deliver a talk to interested conservatives at the Belgrade Community Center. Mike Hein, the Administrator of the League, is shown with Dean in the photo here.

The Christian Civic League of Maine endorsed Scontras in his run for Congress in 2008, the first political endorsement the League made in decades. The League supported Scontras because of his bold, unapologetic stands in support of pro-life and pro-family issues. Scontras had the political courage to address a pro-life “Hands Around the Capitol” rally in 2008.

Scontras recently assembled the Scontras Congressional Exploratory Committee to begin collecting pledges of financial support to measure the strength of a potential Scontras 2010 congressional campaign. The Congressional seat is currently held by Chellie Pingree, a pro-abortion Democrat and strong proponent of same-sex marriage. Many Democrats view Pingree as even more liberal than Governor John Baldacci, and see her as a more forceful advocate for the cause of abortion and homosexual marriage.

Dean is a business and entrepreneur who is currently Vice President of Business Development at R.A. Power Solutions. He is also an advisory board member of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, and an investment advisor.

It was pleasant to meet an old friend of the League, one who has the courage to take a stand in favor of conservative morals issues. An additional opportunity to meet Dean Scontras will occur on Tuesday evening, December 29th at 6:30 p.m. at the Topsham Municipal Building (100 Main Street). He will present an overview of the current economic crisis in this country. Following the presentation, we’ll be encouraged to participate in a discussion about these grave challenges that face us all. This is not a partisan political event. All are welcome and encouraged to attend, regardless of political views or affiliations. For more information, contact Miriam Conners at miriam.conners@republicanproject.org or (207) 729-1549.

This statement was not another endorsement, but it does represent a pretty clear voice of support behind Scontras’ run in the first district against Chellie Pingree.

However, with respect to the CCL as an organization, I believe that this is exactly the type of thing that Scontras needs to avoid in order to have any measure of success in this district.  That’s what Reagan did in ‘80 and ‘84, and it is why he won so big.  Plenty of people who disagreed with Reagan on a lot of issues, supported him because his campaign themes were focused like a laser on issues and ideas that most people could get on board with, which made them disregard the things they did not agree with him about.

This move flies in the face of the strategic outline I laid out earlier for his campaign, which was essentially to focus on kitchen table issues such as government spending, jobs, taxes and debt, and minimize (important distinction – not run away from, but minimize) the themes of social wedge issues.  Abortion and gay marriage are the two biggest social wedge issues, and neither gives Scontras any kind of advantage in the first district.

Voters are curious creatures.  They are very willing to accept policy differences in a public official – there are plenty of overwhelmingly pro-life districts that vote overwhelmingly for somebody who is pro-choice and vice versa – but voters tend not to be willing to support somebody out of step with their values if their entire candidacy seems driven by said difference.

In other words, a candidate needs to focus his campaign on what unifies people, brings them together, and what they can all get behind, and needs to minimize areas where they are out of step.

Maine’s first district is overwhelmingly pro-choice, and went decisively for gay marriage.  As I noted previously:

Even as the gay marriage vote took a drubbing state wide, in the first district, the “No on 1″ folks actually prevailed, winning by roughly 16,000 votes and 5 percentage points.  This was in the most favorable environment possible for social conservatism in Maine (i.e. an off year election with an anti-Democrat national mood), which means that no matter how you slice it, the first district does not match Scontras social views.

This means the visible, loud support of the Christian Civic League of Maine is actually counterproductive to their overall goal – getting Scontras elected to Congress.  It might make the “this is our hill to die on” absolutists scream to think about, but pragmatically if they want him to win, the best thing they can do is stay silent on this front and simply work for his election quietly, at the grassroots level.

Many a politician has hitched their wagon to the idea that if they simply “stand firmly on principle, the people will follow” – but this has never been anything more than fluffy rhetoric.

Indeed, the conservative movement seems to be reaching a consensus on this issue – and its advice is the same as mine:  focus on the things that a majority of us can get on board with, stand firm on the things that are divisive, but just don’t make them the center-piece of your candidacy.  A great read at Pajamas Media and  The Next Right demonstrates the basis of this strategy, and why it is necessary for the future of the movement.

Scontras (and the CCL) would do well to politically understand this reality.

No one is asking him to be anything he is not, and no one is asking him to compromise his beliefs – but in order to even be relevant, his communication priorities need to focus on a different beast.