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Rap Video of Michaud Creates Political Firestorm

Ed Morin
/
MPBN

PORTLAND, Maine - Just when you thought the race for governor might return its focus back to the issues, a flap being spread on social media has exploded onto center stage - at least for today. The ingredients include a video with some off-color rap lyrics, the Michaud for Governor Campaign and the Maine Republican Party, all mixed and churned by Twitter.

Tom Porter: "A.J. Higgins, MPBN's state house bureau chief, is with us this afternoon to help us sort it all out. Good afternoon, A.J."
 
A.J. Higgins: "Hi Tom, always a pleasure."

Tom Porter: "So this all sounds sort of complicated, what is this dust-up between the Michaud campaign and the state Republican party all about?"

A.J. Higgins: "So this is a rather unfortunate incident that highlights the comparative naivety of most Mainers and the dangers of the unintended consequences from what one can put up on the Internet during a heated political campaign. We'll start with a company called the Knack Factory in Portland that decided to follow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud around with a video camera for a day to produce what could easily be described as a very complimentary and positive five-minute video of the congressman.

Tom Porter: "Right, so what's so objectionable about that."

A.J. Higgins: "Not a thing, Tom. It's not the ad -- which is pretty innocuous. It's a reference to Sen. Susan Collins in the lyrics from the video's soundtrack, taken from a rap song by Maine rapper Spose's 'King of Maine.' Let's give it a listen.

king_of_maine.mp3
Hear a snippet of the "King of Maine" rap video.

Tom Porter: "Susan Collins giving everyone 'brain.' What does that even mean?"

A.J. Higgins: "Well, considering that the video has been on the Internet and elsewhere for the last seven months, I suspect that a lot of people, including those who work for Collins, thought it just meant that Spose thought Collins was smart. As it turns out though, the phrase actually has a sexual connotation in the rap community that Spose acknowledges that he was well aware of - even if everyone else in Maine wasn't."

Tom Porter: "Hmmm. I see. And just how does Michaud and the state Republican party figure in all of this?"

A.J. Higgins: "Yesterday, the Michaud campaign re-tweeted the Knack Factory's video on Twitter, alerting the entire Twitterverse to its existence. Like most of us, they were unaware of how the brain reference could be construed, they just thought it was a rap song. And I would add that that's the message I also got from the Knack Factory, who say they simply liked the recurring 'King of Maine' phrase, which is how they thought most Mainers tend to perceive Michaud. What they didn't count on was Dave Sorensen at state Republican headquarters, who apparently has deeper roots in the hip-hop culture than any of us in the State House Press Corps ever suspected."

Tom Porter: "I take it Dave didn't like it."

A.J. Higgins: "That would be yes and no. No, because he put out a press release saying Michaud should apologize to Collins for condoning the rapper's lyrics in the video's 'lewd and vulgar' sexual reference to Collins. But yes, because after the information was announced on a Bangor radio talk show, the story blew up, giving Sorensen a lot of what we call earned media - that is publicity that the GOP doesn't have to pay for."

Tom Porter: "So did Michaud apologize?"

A.J. Higgins: "Not yet, and he may not because that would imply personal responsibility. Even as we speak, reporters are wrapping a press conference at the Portland Jetport hastily called by the congressman, where he emphasized that his campaign had no involvement in either the production or distribution of the video; that he is personally upset and outraged over the off-color references to Sen. Collins in the video; that he asked the Knack Factory to take the video down from their website, which they have, and that, finally, we need to end what he referred to as the gutter politics of the Maine Republican Party, whom he accused of taking Maine voters down a deceptive path."

 

09192014michaudraw.mp3
Hear Mike Michaud's news conference at the Portland Jetport.

Tom Porter: "And what have we learned from this experience?"

A.J. Higgins: "That's easy Tom: First there's a whole lot all of us from Maine who could stand to learn about rap music. Second, be careful what you tweet about, because it's pretty hard to un-ring that bell."

Tom Porter: "Well, you've got that right. Thanks for joining us A.J."

A.J. Higgins: "Thank you, Tom."