Among those scheduled to welcome the candidates are: Maine Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, Maine House Assistant Minority Leader David Bowles, 2nd Congressional District nominee Brian Hamel and Bush-Cheney 2004 Campaign state Chairman Peter Cianchette.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins may be there, according to a press release. Volunteers, veterans and voters are invited, the release states. Refreshments will be served.

Mitchell urges Bush to condemn TV ads

Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who served as Senate majority leader during his tenure on Capitol Hill, was in Maine last week campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

Mitchell called on President Bush to do more for American troops abroad and at home. He also criticized Bush for failing to call for the removal of third-party TV ads criticizing Kerry’s military service. Mitchell called the ads, produced by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, “disgraceful,” according to Kerry’s campaign spokesman in Maine. Press Secretary Jesse Derris said the Kerry campaign refers to the group instead as Swift Boat Veterans for Bush, a claim bolstered by the discovery last week that the lead lawyer to the Bush campaign also had served as an adviser to the independent group. He has since resigned his post with the Bush campaign.

– By Staff Writer Christopher Williams