Maine played host to top names of the presidential tickets as well as dozens of their surrogates.

In addition to sending running mate John Edwards to Maine three times since Labor Day, the Kerry campaign dispatched to Maine more than 30 people prominent in politics, including Kerry’s wife, also three times.

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney both visited Bangor, Bush twice; first lady Laura Bush came to Lewiston. Many cabinet members and other notable Bush supporters also visited the state.

By contrast, voters in some states – considered already locked up by Bush or Kerry – had to travel across state lines to catch a glimpse of a candidate.

“I can’t think of a year when we’ve had so many” candidates and their surrogates, said Gwethalyn Phillips, past chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party.

Although Portland is Maine’s largest city, most attention was paid to 2nd District cities, such as Lewiston, Bangor and Waterville,

“That district has always been a lot closer than the 1st District,” Phillips said.

Rosemarie Butler, who has been a Republican Party activist in Lewiston for the past 50 years, said she has never seen such local focus in a presidential race – nor as much divisiveness.

“There’s no doubt in my mind this is the most intense race,” she said.

Last spring, Marc Racicot, national chairman for the Bush campaign, came to Lewiston’s Bates College, where he expressed confidence that Bush would carry the state this year. Around the same time, the campaign set up shop in Bangor with full-time staff, earlier than any other presidential race in recent memory.

The Democratic candidate opened campaign offices in Bangor, Portland and Lewiston – also earlier than prior campaigns – but moved staff, supplies and volunteers to Lewiston in the final weeks leading up to Election Day. Lewiston and Auburn is considered the biggest Democratic stronghold in the 2nd District. By the end, Democrats had three campaign offices on Lisbon Street, said Jesse Derris, spokesman for the Kerry campaign.

Both campaigns pumped millions of dollars into TV advertising in Maine that voters in most states across the country never saw. They barraged Maine voters with direct mailings and both live and recorded phone calls from notable figures, including Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and former President Clinton.

The race was a dead heat right up to the end, according to national polling, leaving it up to undecided voters in key swing states to tip the balance. In Maine, though, polls showed Kerry opening up a solid lead over Bush less than two weeks before Election Day. That likely deprived Kerry supporters of a last-minute campaign stop by the candidate, according to sources inside the campaign.

As in other battleground states, the two major political parties in Maine, as well as third-party interest groups, worked hard to register new voters in an effort to put their candidate on top.

Copy the Story Link