LEWISTON – Twins Jenna and Barbara Bush will campaign for their father, President Bush, in Lewiston and Orono today, while the soldier rescued by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in Vietnam will campaign in Auburn and Stillwater.

The visits illustrate that Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Lewiston and Bangor, is turning into a real battleground in the national presidential election.

“It’s very unusual to see this volume of national people coming here from both parties,” said pollster and Bowdoin College Professor Christian Potholm. “I’ve never seen such a steady stream. They can’t stay away.”

The 2nd District has meant “that Maine has shifted from leaning Kerry to being a true battleground,” said retired Bates Professor Douglas Hodgkin. “Both sides are sending in their resources.” If the polls don’t change, President Bush could be back in Maine, and Kerry could campaign here as Election Day gets closer, Hodgkin said.

The Bush daughters will appear at Bates College for a Students for Bush rally at 2:30 p.m. Earlier, they will campaign at the University of Maine in Orono.

Jim Rassman, the former Green Beret who was rescued by Kerry in Vietnam, will meet with Maine military mothers Wednesday in Auburn and Stillwater, which is near Bangor. Rassman will appear at the Auburn home of state Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn, at 2 p.m.

Neither the Republican college rallies nor the Democratic kitchen talks are open to the public.

Bates College is excited to host the first daughters, said college spokesman Brian McNulty. “We’ve had Chris Heinz, stepson of John Kerry; the running mate of Ralph Nader; and now the Bush twins. It’s pretty neat to have all these parties coming here.”

Barbara and Jenna Bush are the latest political stars to campaign in Lewiston and Bangor. On Sept. 10, first lady Laura Bush spoke in Lewiston; on Sept. 24, President Bush was in Bangor; and on Sunday Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was in Lewiston. On Monday, Chris Heinz stumped for his stepfather, John Kerry, in Lewiston.

The big names are showing up here and in Bangor, not Portland, because polling shows the race is close in the 2nd District: 45 percent for Bush and 43 percent for Kerry. Because the Critical Insights poll has a four-point margin of error, it’s too close to call. The story is different in southern Maine, where Kerry leads, 47 percent to 37 percent.

Fueling all the attention to the Lewiston and Bangor areas is Maine’s system for awarding electoral votes. Unlike most states, which give all their electoral votes to the statewide winner, Maine’s votes are broken up according to the two districts, Hodgkin explained.

Maine has four electoral votes up for grabs. One of the candidates will get two votes for winning Maine at large, and the winning presidential candidate in each congressional district will get an electoral vote for that district. Either Kerry or Bush could get three Maine votes by winning the overall vote and one district. “If the margin in the 2nd District offsets the 1st District,” whichever candidate does well in the 2nd District could carry Maine, Hodgkin said.

With the national election expected to be close as it was in 2000, Maine’s four electoral votes – or even one vote – could mean a difference in who’s elected president, he said.

Both campaigns are hoping media coverage of their stars will sway voters to their side. “In a swing state like Maine, when any celebrity comes into the state, the local media covers it, no matter who they are and what they’re saying,” said L. Sandy Maisel of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs at Colby College. “Publicity is the name of the game in a battleground state.”

Oliver Wolf, president of the Bates Republican Students, was a delegate at the Republican National Convention and listened to the Bush daughters’ speeches. Supporters will find the daughters inspiring, Wolf said, adding that their visit shows that the Bush campaign is undergoing “a serious fight to win the state of Maine.”