So you thought George Bush’s middle initial stood for Walker.

Apparently it also stands for other “W” words, depending on whether you’re hearing it from a Republican or a Democrat.

Heavy hitters from both major party presidential campaigns are scheduled to be in Maine this week to offer their respective interpretations.

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards plans to be in Bangor today as part of his national tour to deliver the message that “W” stands for “wrong,” as in the “wrong direction President Bush’s policies are taking this nation and about the Kerry-Edwards plan to move the country in a new direction and build a stronger middle class,” according to a press release.

First lady Laura Bush, scheduled for a Lewiston rally on Friday at the Franco-American Center, is expected to declare that “W stands for women,” a news advisory states.

Many surveys, little time

Being a candidate for the Maine Legislature can be time-consuming. There are the signs that need planting and doors that need knocking.

Then there are the surveys that various organizations send the candidates, hoping to get their stands on issues of importance to those groups.

Sen. Neria Douglass of Auburn, who is seeking re-election to the Maine Senate, said she has gotten about 20 of the questionnaires, some from the usual suspects (League of Women Voters and Chamber of Commerce) and some from more obscure groups (Maine Libraries Association and the Disability Rights Center of Maine).

She likely won’t be able to answer them all, she said, considering she works for a living. But she’ll do her best.

“I answer as many as I can,” she said. She has to prioritize the requests. She’ll probably answer the Maine Citizens Against Gun Violence before Gun Owners of America, she said. Not that she has anything against that group.

“We do own guns,” she said. Her husband is an avid hunter.

Maine in spotlight

Tad Devine, a senior strategist at the Kerry/Edwards campaign, talked to reporters on Tuesday in a conference call about the significance of Maine’s four electoral votes.

“Maine is a very important and critical battleground for us,” he said.

That’s why Edwards will be in Bangor today, Maine campaign spokesman Jesse Derris said, and two campaign surrogates – former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland and former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen – will probably be in Maine next week.

Formal office opening

The Democrats’ Maine Victory ’04 office formally opened in late August amid much fanfare and political speeches and a massive canvassing effort, Derris reported.

Gov. John Baldacci addressed the roughly 80 volunteers on hand for the kickoff event.

“We were incredibly enthused by the number of people who showed up,” Derris said.

The office, housed at the historic former Lamey-Wellehan store on Lisbon Street, was decorated with political posters of earlier presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns by prominent Democrats, including former Presidents Johnson and Kennedy, Maine’s former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, and former presidential contenders George McGovern and Hubert Humphrey.

Besides three TV sets and a couch, the office will have four full-time staffers devoted to organizing volunteer efforts, Derris said.

The so-called coordinated campaign means the full slate of Democrats will be promoted through the efforts of the office workers.

Staffers had been working out of the office since July 5.

– By staff writer Christopher Williams