Maine delegate Michael Broderick of Bethel explained that just before the next speaker, crews would go down the aisles distributing piles of signs until everyone had one.

“You’d start the evening off in a naked auditorium. By the end of the evening, you had a pile of signs at your feet. There was a constant refreshment of them,” Broderick said. The signs would be stuffed under chairs and on the floors. Delegate Ed Desgrosseilliers of Auburn and his wife collected some signs to bring home to the local campaign office.

Sitting on the stage, Broderick said it was amazing to see all the signs pop up at once. “It was incredible, like a tidal wave of Teresa,’ Elizabeth, Edwards,'” plus “Veterans for Kerry,’ Max’ and Kerry.’

On Friday, the delegates were headed home, tired but inspired. Broderick called the convention an experience of a lifetime, and praised John Kerry’s acceptance speech. “It was an excellent speech with themes right on target, and consistent with what we heard all week.”

In the remaining days before the election, the delegates have much campaigning to do at home, Broderick said. “This election is going to be won on the street.”

The Republican National Convention will be Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in New York City.

Baldacci bolstered by Maine cheers

When Gov. John Baldacci got up on the big stage during the Boston convention, “I was nervous,” he said. “I’m a Maine boy.”

Even though he served eight years in Congress, he’s not used to that kind of limelight, the governor said.

But there was support from the home team. As Baldacci walked out, he was greeted by smiling faces and loud cheers by the 35 Maine delegates, who had choice floor seats near the stage. The delegates cheered and held handmade signs for him.

That made a difference, Baldacci said. “It broke the ice for me,” and helped him with his speech.

Later, some expressed surprise that 30-plus people could make that much noise. Maine had some help.

Delegate Elaine Makas of Lewiston said the Maine delegates made friends with delegates from New Mexico, who sat in front of them, and Florida, who sat behind Maine. “They helped us cheer.”

Rep. Michaud focuses on jobs

In his three-minute speech to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud lamented the loss of more than 2.7 million manufacturing jobs nationally during the past four years.

Michaud, a Maine paper mill worker-turned-politician, said a Kerry administration would create 10 million jobs.

His comments sparked a quick rebuttal from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which puts Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race in its top tier of winnable House contests this year.

The RNCC shot back with a press release Friday, titled, “Michaud Knows About Job Losses, Alright… It’s Job Creation He’s Not So Familiar With.”

The party organization, whose job it is to get GOP candidates elected to Congress, said Michaud voted against several Republican measures aimed at providing “tax relief to American workers and American job-creators – relief that has been credited for the economic turnaround and the more than 1.5 million jobs.”

Jelly doughnuts used as bait

Maine Hunters for Fair Bear Hunting, a group supporting the Nov. 2 referendum to end the hunting of Maine black bears with the use of bait, hounds and traps, drew attention Thursday to July 30, the first day bear-baiting guides can begin putting out food to bear-baiting sites.

According to the state Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife, bear hunting with bait runs from Aug. 30-Sept. 25. Bear baiters can begin putting food out 30 days before to get the bears used to going to the site.

“People have no idea how much garbage these people dump into the Maine woods,” said Cecil Gray, tri-founder of HFBH. Close to a million pounds of jelly doughnuts, grease, meats and fruits are piled into a couple thousand bait sites throughout northern and western Maine, the group said.

“Habituating these magnificent animals to a food site so that they can be shot in a month is not hunting. It is cowardly,” Gray said in a prepared statement. “Maine wildlife symbol is made into a dump rat so that out-of-state trophy hunters can take home a bear head or rug,” he said.

Michaud campaign up and running

Congressman Michaud’s campaign for re-election has two full-time workers and a campaign manager who divides his time between the congressional office in Washington, D.C. and the campaign.

Chief of Staff Peter Chandler is heading up the campaign and has reduced his congressional salary since coming on board in May, said Monica Castellanos, Michaud’s press secretary.

Scott Bragg is the campaign’s staff finance director. Shawn Legendre is campaign field director.

The campaign is headquartered in Waterville. A second office, in Presque Isle is staffed by volunteers, Castellanos said.

The Democrats coordinated campaign offices, where candidates share space, are in Lewiston and Bangor. No decision has been made yet whether the Michaud campaign will open an independent office in Lewiston, she said.

Maine veterans gather for Bush

With the Iraq war and a presidential campaign going strong, politics this week had a strong military theme.

On Thursday when veterans were turning out in force for Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry in Boston, Maine veterans who back Republican President George Bush gathered in Bangor.

“President Bush has a clear vision for a strong America and knows support and respect for those who served our country in the past will provide for a strong and unified America in the future,” Rep. Russell Treadwell, R-Carmel, a former Marine, said in a prepared statement. Treadwell is with a Veterans for Bush-Cheney ’04 regional chair. While Democrats complain of cuts to veteran services, Treadwell said that veterans funding has increased 40 percent since Bush took office, “demonstrating his commitment to veterans’ health care and quality of life.”

“The security challenges our great nation faces today demand we are led by someone with strength and steady conviction, a leader like President George W. Bush,” said Hib Theriault, Maine Veterans for Bush-Cheney ’04 York regional chair.

– By Staff Writers Bonnie Washuk and Christopher Williams