Democrats and Republicans will hold state conventions this month.

AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine Democrats and Republicans will try out their election year messages this month as party activists gather for state conventions.

Presidential politics may be already near full throttle, but the upcoming party conclaves – Republicans in Augusta this weekend, Democrats in Portland the next – will also spotlight two congressional district clashes and what are shaping up as heated contests for the state Senate and House of Representatives.

“Our focus is to highlight our candidates who are running for office,” says Dwayne Bickford, the executive director of the Maine Republican Party.

Secondarily, he adds, the convention serves as the forum for realigning the party apparatus. Rules are updated, slots in the hierarchy are filled.

“Essentially, this is organizing the Maine Republican Party for the next two years,” Bickford says.

Maine Democratic Party Chairwoman Dorothy Melanson said her party’s Portland convention looks to be “one of the biggest ever” with registrations already around 2,000.

“The people are totally mobilized to get rid of the president,” she said by way of explanation.

A draft Republican Party platform opens with a declaration of support for President Bush “in his effort to continue the defense of our nation against terrorist attacks.”

Critiquing government spending and antibusiness laws, the draft document calls for access to health care “through free market reforms” and includes among core beliefs “the sanctity of life” and “the defense of marriage.”

The draft platform proposes a constitutional amendment linking state spending to income growth as well as “full funding and staffing” for a new governmental oversight agency.

Bickford said Republicans, who will send 21 delegates to the national convention in New York, have stuck with a recent trend to keep the platform short and designed it “for candidates to run on.”

Democrats, in a lengthier statement, proclaim: “The Maine Democratic Party is the party of working people.”

The draft Democratic platform lays out a pro-labor stance, states opposition to term limits and support for a national single-payer health insurance system.

The Democratic draft backs civil unions and gay rights, as well as abortion rights.

Domestically, “we urge repeal of the Bush tax cuts,” the Democratic draft declares. Internationally, the draft pledges support for troops in the field while denouncing their deployment.

“We condemn the Bush administration in the strongest terms for leading us into an illegal war through lies and deceit … We support a transfer of power to the people of Iraq and an end to the U.S. occupation,” the Democratic draft says.

Neither of Maine’s U.S. senators are on the ballot this year. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Republicans, are in midterm.

Twin Democratic incumbents in the U.S. House, 1st District Rep. Tom Allen and 2nd District Rep. Michael Michaud, are seeking re-election.

Their lesser known Republican challengers – Charles Summers of Scarborough, a former Republican state senator who has since worked as a U.S. Senate aide, and Brian Hamel of Presque Isle, the former chief executive of the Loring Development Authority – can use the GOP convention as a way to heighten their visibility.

Summers last week sounded undaunted about taking on a veteran officeholder. “I try not to overstate anything, but we’re doing the right things,” he said.

The May conventions are being held just days from the June 8 primary election and for legislative candidates in contested primary races, that may be something of a drawback.

“That’s a valuable weekend,” says Democratic state Rep. Joseph Perry of Bangor, who is hoping to move to the state Senate. Perry says he plans to attend part of the Democratic gathering in Portland, although so far from home there will be few people who would be able to vote for him.

After a relatively low-key presidential primary season in Maine, top-of-the-ticket politicking has picked up.

On the Republican side, Bush wants to end a Democratic streak in Maine that handed him a loss in 2000 and his father a defeat in 1992.

Democrats, who will send 36 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Boston, hope to replicate their successes behind Bill Clinton and Al Gore by securing Maine’s four electoral votes for Democrat John Kerry.

A recent Associated Press national poll found the race between Bush and Kerry remains close, with Bush’s support at 46 percent, Kerry at 43 percent and independent candidate Ralph Nader at 7 percent.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults, including 778 registered voters, was taken May 3-5 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The Democratic convention in Portland could see a new round of jousting involving supporters of a pair of Kerry’s vanquished rivals, Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich, who is expected to attend.

AP-ES-05-09-04 1212EDT