Bates College Republicans Try to Crash Bates Baldacci Rally

LEWISTON, Me. - Today, the Bates College Democrats held their annual convention at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. The event went smoothly, culminating with a speech by incumbent Maine governor John Baldacci, who currently leads his Republican opponnet Chandler Woodcock, in both local and CQ polls.

Bates College Republicans, however, were not going to take a peaceful political gathering of their progressive enemies lying down. What follows is an email from Maine College Republicans state chairperson Nate Walton:

"Just wanted to let everyone know that the College Democrats will be holding their convention tomorrow, Saturday, at Bates College. Governor Baldacci will be speaking at appx 2:30 and we are going to send an ARMY of College Republicans to disrupt the event and turn it into a pro-Woodcock rally. If anyone is interested please be in touch with me and we will set up rides to Bates. At this point a tentative meeting time/place would be 1:00 at teh Olson Student Center. Let me know if your interested. Thanks."

Yet despite having paid field consultants and a much wealthier donation base, the College Republicans found themselves unable to gather anything near the Democrats' numbers, which organizers placed in the hundreds. This "ARMY [see inset]," less of an army and more of a Dirty Dozen Or So, carried Woodcock banners, shouted slogans at passing cars, and occasionally yelled out jeering comments at Democratic volunteers standing outside the Muskie Archives, the facility at which Baldacci gave his speech. Despite their desire to shift the Baldacci gathering into a "pro-Woodcock rally," all they really ended up illustrating was their investment in typically aggressive Republican campaign strategies, which unfortunately for them, appeared to appeal to a very small number of Maine College Republicans.

Baldacci, whose sponsors include the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, saw the Miliken Institute dub Maine "the lowest costing state to do business in the northeast," despite Woodcock's claims about the harmful effects of Baldacci's tax plan on business, and who has received an "A" rating from the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, is currently projected to win his re-election. His issues include expansion of the commuter transit service, advocacy of stem cell research, and further development of Maine's economic infrastructure.

Woodcock, who has an A rating from the NRA and whose number one sponsor is the Maine Snowmobiling Association, supports such issues as making it legal to deny the sale of a house or home to a homosexual, making it legal to terminate an emploiyee strictly on the grounds of their sexual orientation, and the institution of the economic travesty TaBOR, which was chiefly responsible for turning Colorado's projected massive economic growth into a little bump on the charts (most of its neighboring states saw economic growth far in excess of Colorado despite having nearly the exact same advantages Colorado did; those states did not implement TaBOR). He also stands on a platform of reducing taxes, increasing state expenditures, and making Maine healthcare "more competitive."