AUGUSTA (AP) – Jean Hay Bright declared herself to be the Democrats’ best hope to remove Republican Olympia Snowe from the U.S. Senate as she addressed the Democratic State Convention on its closing day Saturday.

In his turn at the rostrum, Hay Bright’s Democratic primary opponent Eric Mehnert vowed to give his all fighting to restore a “social contract” he says the Bush administration has broken on health care, human rights, tax equity and other issues if he’s sent to Washington.

The two Senate candidates were cheered enthusiastically as they took turns addressing hundreds of delegates at the Augusta Civic Center. Delegates also heard from Gov. John Baldacci, who was ushered to the stage amid a rousing demonstration of support, and underdog challenger Christopher Miller, who relied on a video and troupe of theatrical performers to deliver his message.

Hay Bright’s and Mehnert’s speeches followed similar themes, sharply criticizing President Bush for the war in Iraq and calling for a return of American troops, repeal of Bush’s No Child Left Behind school reform law and accusing Snowe of marching lockstep with Bush on important tax, military and privacy issues. Both also called for a single-payer national health care system.

“Olympia Snowe is not a moderate,” Hay Bright, an organic farmer and writer from Dixmont, told the delegates. “She is now a Bush-enabler.”

Hay Bright reiterated her call for impeachment proceedings against the Republican president and said that if nominated June 13 she’ll be Snowe’s first woman opponent in the senator’s 28 years of congressional campaigns.

“This is our only chance this year to make a difference in the U.S. Senate. Now is the time. And I am the person in this particular race,” Hay Bright said.

Mehnert, a civil rights lawyer from Orono who worked on John Kerry’s presidential campaign two years ago, acknowledged his campaign is outgunned financially by Snowe’s and that he’s relatively unknown.

Mehnert said he was motivated by watching a “dismantling of our social contract” in Washington which has seen American jobs move overseas, growth of the military industrial complex and unrestrained use of executive power.

“I will fight against injustice … I will fight for our social contract and I will not back down,” Mehnert said.

Baldacci also targeted Bush in his address and contrasted his own administration’s record over the last 3 1/2 years with that of the president as he sought to solidify support among party faithful.

The governor said that while Maine has balanced its budgets, eliminated a $1.2 billion shortfall and restored its Rainy Day reserve fund, the administration in Washington has amassed huge deficits.

Baldacci said Maine has created jobs and expanded health care, while Bush is outsourcing port jobs and creating confusion for elderly people who are being switched to the federal Medicare Part D prescription drug program.

Baldacci said there’s a promise of hundreds of new Maine jobs, citing specific expansion plans at Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbor, Idexx in Westbrook and Cook Aquaculture in Washington County. He said Maine “is stronger than it was three years ago,” but added, “I’m not satisfied. We have more to do … will you help me?”

Miller introduced the delegates to his anti-corporate, community-centered political philosophy and advocacy of a “no-growth economy.” An Internet service provider who has not run for office before, Miller, of Gray, relied heavily on an extended video presentation and sharing the speakers’ platform with a troupe of theatrical performers.

On one high-interest issue in the unfolding gubernatorial debate, Miller said he credited Baldacci for pushing ahead with his Dirigo Health initiative, which was designed to offer broad access to health care coverage.

But Miller added, “we also have to realize the system’s not working,” adding that the program’s constituency to date is too small.

Miller brought up a looming referendum on government spending caps known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which many Democrats fear will drain local government budgets. He said he understands the frustration of voters who can’t understand what’s being done with their tax dollars.

AP-ES-06-03-06 1944EDT