Remember the “Most Wanted” deck of cards that featured the biggest bad guys in the Iraq war? There’s a new deck out, with a more satirical flavor.

In the style of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” they’re called “Bush Cards,” created by New York City’s Zach Levy and friends. Levy has ties to Maine. His mother lives in Bucksport, his grandparents in Deer Isle. “For a long time, I spent summers in Maine,” he said.

The cards are professionally printed playing cards, each poking fun at a member of the George Bush administration with photos, quotes, facts and figures. Levy said he collected the information from press releases and stories in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Bush appears on the ace of spades and Dick Cheney on the ace of clubs.

So far, about 200,000 decks have sold nationally. Sales in Maine have been strong, Levy said. He didn’t have exact numbers, but said more cards have sold here than in Ohio. Individual stores in Camden, Portland and Brunswick have sold more than 400 decks each. Levy said that tells him Mainers have a sense of humor, “and long winters where they need to play cards.”

With no political experience, the former cameraman started out with a goal of having fun. But he’s making money, too. Not only did he recoup his investment, which he charged to his credit card, he has turned a profit. “But it’s not like I won the Lotto.”

The Bush cards sell for $7.95. To see samples, go to http://www.bushcards.com.

Rumors of Bush pullout patently absurd’

News reports earlier this week that President Bush was conceding Maine and pulling his money out of the state were swiftly answered by Kevin Madden, national spokesman for the Bush campaign.

He called the notion “patently absurd.” The president “remains committed to winning Maine,” Madden said. The campaign will keep its current levels of staff and volunteers here.

Recent polls show that Bush has pulled even with John Kerry in Maine.

“We expect a close race in Maine,” Madden said. “We lost it narrowly in 2000.”

Bush will be in Kennebunkport this weekend. The president will be campaigning Sunday in two towns in neighboring New Hampshire, but not in Maine.

Anti-Bushers plan Election Action Day’

Activists opposed to the re-election of President Bush will mobilize in five Maine cities today, including Lewiston and Rumford. It’s part of a national “Election Action Day’ in 185 cities in so-called battleground states.

Volunteers from groups such as Planned Parenthood, the AFL-CIO, the Maine’s People Alliance, MoveOn.org, America Coming Together and America Votes will knock on doors here and in Portland, Waterville and Orono, as well.

“Volunteers will canvass in Lewiston around 8:30 a.m. These are volunteers giving their own time to talk to people about issues involved in this election,” said Bill Brown of Americans Coming Together in Lewiston. After the door-to-door effort, rallies will be held in each of the five cities. In Lewiston, former Sen. John Cleveland, D-Auburn, and Eddie Gorham, president of the Maine AFL-CIO, will speak, starting at about 9 a.m. at the IBEW Hall, 238 Goddard Road.

Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe will speak in Portland. Rallies also will be held in the PACE Hall in Rumford, the REM Center in Waterville and the University of Maine in Orono.

Rules of the game

The 2nd Congressional District race heated up last week when GOP nominee Brian Hamel called on Rep. Mike Michaud to stop spending campaign money on opposition research.

At a Bangor news conference, Hamel chided the incumbent Democrat for not pledging to run “a positive campaign.” Hamel discovered Michaud had hired a Texas political research firm.

Monica Castellanos, Michaud’s press secretary, said the company is the same one her boss hired two years ago during his race for the open 2nd District seat against Republican nominee Kevin Raye. Nothing negative about Raye was ever made public by the Michaud campaign in that race, she said.

In fact, Castellanos said, Michaud’s campaign is only interested in Hamel’s professional record at the Loring Development Authority, where he served as president and chief executive, that sheds light on his job performance.

Michaud issued his own challenge in an Aug. 4 letter, asking Hamel to sign a pledge for clean campaigning including an appeal to third-party organizations – mainly the two major political party’s congressional committees – to refrain from negative advertising.

– By Staff Writers Christopher Williams and Bonnie Washuk