AUGUSTA (AP) – Beth Edmonds, who was drawn to politics during the politically turbulent 1960s and grew familiar with state government as an activist for women’s issues, is poised to become Maine’s No. 2 state official on Wednesday.

The path to the Senate presidency came quickly for Edmonds, a children’s librarian who is beginning her third legislative term. But she draws energy and confidence for the job ahead from the mountains of books she reads in her professional life.

“I read almost exclusively fiction,” said Edmonds, of Freeport. “In fiction you create a world that makes sense … and solutions are gotten.”

Edmonds, 54, won her fellow Senate Democrats’ nomination Nov. 16 to serve as president of the chamber for the next two-year term. Because her party has 18 of the 35 Senate seats to the Republicans’ 17, she is expected to take the gavel on Wednesday.

Republicans nominated their minority leader, Paul Davis of Sangerville, for the post just in case the votes don’t go according to script. If elected, Edmonds will become the second woman to serve as Maine Senate president, succeeding the first, Democrat Beverly Daggett of Augusta.

Betheda Edmonds grew up in Keene Valley, N.Y., a small town in the Adirondacks where she says her family was among few Democrats.

While attending Clark University in Massachusetts, she – like legions of other college students of the time – was drawn to political activism by the Vietnam War, civil rights and other issues raging at the time. Edmonds earned a master’s degree from Goddard College in Vermont.

Around the time she moved to Maine in 1978, Edmonds became increasingly involved in the Equal Rights Amendment and other women’s issues. She became active in the Maine Women’s Legislative Agenda Coalition, which brought her to the State House and in contact with legislators.

She is currently state coordinator for the Maine Chapter of the National Organization for Women and a member of NOW’s national board.

But even as she began dabbling in state politics, Edmonds said, the thought of running for elective office had not yet struck. Then, in 1998, she was asked to run against the Republican incumbent.

Edmonds told her husband, Dan Nickerson, an L.L. Bean employee who grows hundreds of orchids in the couple’s greenhouse.

“My husband said, So why aren’t you?”‘ said Edmonds. Despite the encouragement, the odds were against beating the incumbent and she lost the race. But Edmonds had already made up her mind to come back again in two years.

In 2000, Edmonds won the District 10 Senate seat, which covers Freeport, Brunswick, Harpswell and Pownal.

She has been elected and re-elected with public financing through Maine’s Clean Election Act.

Edmonds has since chaired the Labor Committee and served on Natural Resources and Marine Resources panels. She became involved in bills to resolve a deadlock on the state Workers Compensation Board, to raise the state’s minimum wage and provide unemployment for part-time workers.

Stepping into the role of presiding officer and chief parliamentarian in the Senate will take her into a new realm. But Edmonds said she maintains her 1960s idealism – and humor she’s honed while working with kids at the Freeport Community Library.

“The children,” she said, “are far better behaved.”

On a more serious note, Edmonds promises to set a positive tone for the session by encouraging bipartisan cooperation and putting the needs of Mainers “before any partisan interest.”

“I still feel like I’m a very idealistic, hopeful person,” she said.

AP-ES-11-30-04 1726EST