Gov. John Baldacci should not stand in the way of a public vote in November on whether to allow a racino in Washington County.

The people of Maine made the distinction between a casino and a racino last November when they rejected a $650 million casino resort on the coast but approved 1,500 slot machines at the Bass Park horse-racing track in Bangor.

Not only have voters clearly weighed in on the racino question, the specific proposal for Washington County, which mirrors the Bangor project, has tremendous broad-based support at home and passed with strong bipartisan approval in both the Senate and House this spring.

However, because the governor has painted himself into a corner on gambling, and because his political backers in Greater Portland flatly oppose anything with a slot machine, Maine could face another expensive, time-consuming and divisive referendum on the same question.

No wonder it sometimes feels like we’re running in place.

Earlier in the legislative session, Baldacci rejected a bill to allow the Washington County racino without a statewide vote despite strong bipartisan support in both chambers for that bill, too. Supporters can’t be blamed for thinking voters had already approved the concept of allowing popular slot machines at racetracks, where people already can gamble on the horses.

Baldacci is now trying to decide whether to allow a referendum on the question this November or force racino supporters to collect more than 50,000 signatures to get the question on the ballot next November.

The latter option seems unfair as well as politically risky for Baldacci, whose ratings are sinking as he begins preparing his re-election strategy. If he forces racino supporters to wage a referendum campaign next year at the same time he’s trying to explain to voters why he doesn’t listen to them, he may need more than his southern contributors to win another term.

Especially unfair, or arrogant, is Baldacci’s delay in authorizing a 2005 referendum after saying last week that he would OK the bill if it garnered two-thirds support in each chamber – enough support to override his veto and send the question to voters without him.

The measure surpassed the two-thirds threshold in the House and failed by a fraction of a percentage point from getting the super-majority in the Senate.

Maine law requires only simple-majority support to put a question out to referendum.

Baldacci said after the vote he did not want to “argue fractions.” We agree. Let’s put the question on the ballot this year and move on. Many voters thought that’s what they did last year.