Over the weekend, a huge number of party organs in cities across Maine came together to caucus, elect officers, and in a couple instances, hold a straw poll regarding their choice for Maine’s next Governor.

The caucuses have afforded several candidates the opportunity to meet local voters, press the flesh and make their case.  I asked several candidates to give their take:

From Paul LePage:

I attended the Brunswick town and Lincoln County caucuses. I am absolutely thrilled by the reception we received. Our message is being heard and Republicans are reacting with enthusiasm. In Damiscotta today the standing ovation was extremely heart warming and energized me to keep spreading the word until we reach all Maine people.

From the Jacobson campaign:

The Jacobson for Governor team spread out throughout the state on Saturday, meeting with hundreds of Republicans at  caucuses in Bridgton, Gray, Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Naples, Brunswick, Falmouth, Damariscotta, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, and Bangor.

Matt’s message about jobs and opportunity was well received statewide.  Voters voiced concern with our state and national governments, and appear ready for a change from politics as usual.  Matt’s unique experience as a military veteran, businessman, and job creator resonated well with caucus attendees.

Bruce Poliquin was at four separate caucuses, and had a campaign presence at 21.

Peter Mills says that either he or someone from his staff was present at 20 caucuses.

At least two straw polls were held (please, if there you are aware of others let me know and I will update this article).

The winner of the Penobscot County caucus straw poll held in Bangor was Steve Abbott, and the winner of the Falmouth straw poll was Matt Jacobson.  Results are below:

Bangor straw poll:

• Abbott - 57% (24)
• LePage – 24% (10)
• Mills – 7% (3)
• Beardsley- 7% (3)
• Poliquin – 5% (2)
• Jacobson – 0%
• Otten – 0%
• Vachon – 0%

Falmouth straw poll:

• Jacobson - 30.95%  (13)
• Abbott – 23.80% (10)
• Otten – 14.29%  (6)
• LePage – 11.90%  (5)
• Mills – 9.52%  (4)
• Poliquin – 7.14%  (3)
• Beardsley – 2.38%  (1)
• Vachon – 0%

Something very striking to me was the underformance of Les Otten in both of these straw polls.  These polls are largely for fun and don’t exactly tell you who the front runners are, but for a candidate who was first on the air, second on the air, and dumped more than a half million dollars of his own money into the race, you would think that would have translated into at least a few scragglers at either of these caucuses casting their votes for Otten.

Yet, he received exactly zero votes in the Bangor straw poll, and only 6 in the Falmouth poll.

With such a huge amount of attention being lobbed his way, if there was anything resembling a grass roots organization – you would think that it would have made its presence known in either of those locations.

Perhaps it isn’t much of a surprise, however, with some of the stories we are hearing about his performances in person.  A rather damning condemnation of Otten’s retail skills appeared in a small blog that comments on Maine politics a little more than a week ago, and from what I have heard about his performance on caucus day this weekend, those assertions were perhaps too kind to him.  No amount of media attention can make up for poor performances in person, especially in a Republican primary in June where the highly motivated voters will be showing up to vote.

But enough about Otten.

Also important to note in these straw polls is the performance in one’s geographic base.

For example, Abbott is originally from Orono and goes out of his way to highlight his ties to the Bangor area, so a strong performance in Bangor is hardly a surprise.

Likewise, Falmouth is in Matt Jacobson’s geographic wheelhouse, as his home is very nearby and he has a strong operation there.  The fact that he won that straw poll should not shock anyone.

But curious is the underperformance of Bill Beardsley in the Bangor straw poll.  Not only is Beardsley from Bangor, but the caucus itself was held in the student union at Husson – the college Beardsley helmed for three decades.  This is more than just home field advantage, this is basically as if the caucus was held in his living room – that he was only able to drum up 3 supporters to be at the caucus when the straw poll was announced well in advance is puzzling to me.

Now, it is possible that his campaign simply didn’t care about the straw poll, so they didn’t bother whipping up the troops – but my question in that case is, “why not?”.  Currently, Beardsley is the biggest question mark among all Republican candidates – none of us are quite sure what his voting base is, why he got in, or if he really thinks he can win.  Because of this, Beardsley needs to do some things that convince us he is a legitimate threat with some gravity, and making a good showing at a straw poll like this would sure have been a great place to start.

Grassroots enthusiasm and volunteers impress people, and they give the impression – rightly or wrongly – that there is something worth getting excited about.  If you have ever been a campaign volunteer and asked to do a “stand out” in the middle of the road with a political sign, now you know why – it is to give the impression that there are “people out there” who are doing work, and that the candidate in question has people sacrificing their time, money and effort to help out – and that is one of the principle viability arguments that can be made.

That is how guys like Paul LePage earn credibility when they are lesser known and underfunded.  Everywhere LePage goes, he has legions of supporters – from the internet to campaign events – and they all tell you one thing, “we are excited about this guy”.

Passing up the chance to do this on the most favorable turf imaginable makes me wonder.

But in the end, as I said the straw polls mean nothing – we aren’t talking about superdelegates to a convention or anything like that – so debating the meaning of them is limited.  Still, they tell us that Abbott and Jacobson were able to churn out their supporters to win a caucus vote, and as minor as it is, that does show you that there is some “there, there”.

Regarding the caucus system in general, however, one theme I heard from multiple candidates was general frustrations with the somewhat haphazard, disorganized structure of them, and the inability of candidates to really take advantage.

I spoke at length with Senator Peter Mills,who had the following thoughts on his particular frustrations with the caucus system:

There were 19 GOP caucuses on February 6 at conflicting times in as many different areas of the state.  As a result very few of the attending voters got to hear from the gubernatorial candidates.

During a lull on Saturday, Mike Pajak and I were discussing how the party would be better served if the caucuses were held county by county in succession through February and March.  That way, all the gubernatorial candidates could appear in person in each of the geographic constituencies.

In my own campaign, I am blessed with a number of supporters who are superb proxy speakers, but there is no substitute for the candidate appearing in person.

There needs to be greater emphasis at the caucuses on gathering petition signatures and $5 check contributions.  80% of Republican legislative candidates will run under the Clean Election system.

Collecting the checks door-to-door takes significant effort particularly for incumbents who are burdened at this time of year with legislative duties on top of their jobs and families to attend to.

To be able to collect a large number of $5 checks at a caucus would make life much easier for them.  There needs to be time set aside – before the speeches begin – for attendees to be asked to circulate past the various campaign tables to sign petitions and buy money orders.  Once people sit down to hear speeches, the opportunity is largely over since people tend to drift out and go home as the speeches drag on.

The State Committee should issue to each county chair an egg timer and a loud buzzer to cut off speeches after 3 minutes.

Michael Pajak of the Beardsley campaign weighed in with a proposed solution the problem:

From my perspective, the process is frustrating. Election year caucuses present an unprecedented opportunity for Republican activists and those who attend such meetings to meet the entire slate of state and local candidates and representatives. Forcing candidates to have to engage in a bit of a crapshoot, trying to determine if they should attend a Penobscot County caucus or a Lincoln County Caucus, because they occur simultaneously and two hours distant from each other… for towns to have to join in the dance of outmaneuvering each other to garner the attention of the candidates… it does not serve the larger Party goal of allowing candidates to communicate directly to the broadest possible audience of Party loyalists.

This does not even address the challenge of collecting the requisite number of signatures or seed money to earn a spot on the ballot. This year we have a wonderfully talented and competent slate of candidates, and a real sense of “team” has been building among most of the hopefuls. While they may honestly grow tired of hearing each others stump speeches ad nauseam, it provides a real service to primary voters to have an opportunity to see and hear the full slate within the context of the full group, allowing them to compare and contrast messages, deliveries, and presence.

It seems that with such a large geographic area, it would make sense to hold 16 Countywide caucuses over the course of 4 weeks. A possible scenario might be:

Weekend 1)

• Saturday a.m. – York County
• Saturday p.m. – Cumberland County
• Sunday noon – Oxford County
• Sunday p.m. – Androscoggin County

Weekend 2)

• Saturday a.m. – Sagadahoc County
• Saturday p.m. – Lincoln County
• Sunday noon – Franklin County
• Sunday p.m. – Kennebec County

Weekend 3)

• Saturday a.m. – Waldo County
• Saturday p.m. – Knox County
• Sunday noon – Washington County
• Sunday p.m. – Hancock County

Weekend 4)

• Saturday a.m. – Somerset County
• Saturday p.m. – Piscataquis County
• Sunday noon – Aroostook County
• Sunday p.m. – Penobscot County

Such a system would not preclude the possibility of towns holding their actual caucus business independently and according to their own schedule, but it would afford more of an opportunity to expose the base of voters to the range of ideas and styles available, especially in such a crowded and talented field as we have before us this cycle. Think of the fun! We could all pile into Poliquin’s RV and play cards from county to county!

It should be noted that Pajak’s thoughts on this matter do not reflect anything official from the campaign, this was simply his own thoughts on the state of the caucus system in Maine.

These are some interesting thoughts to bear in mind as more caucuses continue around the state, and candidates rush to shake hands and kiss babies at them in an attempt to drum up support.

If you get a chance to go to one, we highly recommend it.  And while we are at it, please send us your stories about how they are going.