Two major political groups are deploying significant assets in Maine, vowing to make this year's gubernatorial race a top priority. The Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association both see Maine's close three-way race for governor as a challenge and say they will pull out all the stops to ensure a victory.
What that likely means is millions of dollars worth of television ads this fall. But at least one of the associations already has boots on the ground.
The Republican Governors Association sent one of its top representatives to Maine to get a better feel of what's going on in the state's close three-way race for governor, between GOP incumbent Paul LePage, Democrat Mike Michaud and Independent Eliot Cutler.
Just as she arrived, the RGA's Gail Gitcho learned that the labor-supported Maine Forward political action committee had announced it planned to drop $2 million on television ads to defeat LePage and elect Michaud.
"You're going to see these big labor - they're going to come into many states, Maine included, to try to meddle in Maine's politics, Gitcho says, "but at the end of the day, it's going to be up to the voters."
But Gitcho, the national communications director for the RGA, was also here to "meddle," meeting with her Maine Republican Party counterpart Dave Sorensen to help craft a statewide plan. Gitcho says the RGA has targeted Maine as one of the top five races in the country for the GOP, and that's a ranking that comes with some serious punch.
"It means that Maine is going to be a very competitive state, just like it was last year," Gitcho says. "As you know, President Obama won Maine twice, so just the nature of the political environment means that Maine is going to be competitive. So certainly, we're going to be in here, we're going to make sure that Gov. LePage has the resources that he needs to get over the top - and, you know, he's done a great job for the state of Maine and he deserves this reelection."
Of course, there are those who would disagree. "The DGA is committed to making Paul LePage a one-term governor and to ensuring that the embarrassment of this administration is finally brought to a close," says Danny Kanner, the national communications director for the Democratic Governors Association.
Kanner says that the $165,000 that the DGA contributed to the Maine Forward PAC for television ads to elect Michaud are just the beginning. The group believes LePage is vulnerable, a struggling incumbent who is less popular than Maine Republicans would like to think.
Kanner says he considers some of LePages' headline-grabbing actions, such as his multiple meetings with members of an extreme conservative group, to be fair game in political ads.
"I don't consider it negative to draw attention to that reality, but the focus of this race is going to be Mainers finally getting a governor they can be proud of," Kanner says. "And that means working in a bipartisan civil way to create jobs, improve schools, expand access to health care, protect Maine's veterans and senior. Gov. LePage is too extreme, he's too erratic, he's too out of control to do it, and Mike Michaud has done this for his entire career."
The prospect of having two political superpowers spending millions to promote their candidates in Maine does little to inform voters. says BJ McCollister of the Maine Citizens for Clean Elections. Four years ago, outside groups spent $5.5 million to elect their gubernatorial candidates, and McCollister expects that record to be shattered this year.
"Well, unfortunately what we're seeing is an arms race in spending right now, so let's be clear: The people who are harmed by this spending are Maine voters," McCollister says. "They're getting messages from a variety of groups that are fronted with PAC names that poll well and they don't know who's behind these expenditures."
McCollister says Maine's voters will in all likelihood see more ads from outside groups, such as the RGA, DGA and other PACs, than from the candidates themselves.