AUGUSTA (AP) – A new analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found little for New England as a whole to crow about, but its unflattering Maine highlights provoked a new round of election year debate over just how bad the state’s economy has been.

“In the Shadows of the National Recovery: An Overview of New England’s Economic Performance in 2005” found New England trailing the rest of the country in several key areas.

Like other recent reports, this one said the region’s job growth has been sluggish compared to the rest of the nation. It also said New England’s real estate growth has lagged, and that unemployment has remained steady as it has dipped elsewhere.

No cause for boasting there. And when the report turned to state-by-state details, Maine’s report card was not good.

“New England’s northernmost state did little but tread water in 2005, as 2004’s mild growth came to a standstill,” the report said.

It cited “lackluster” employment measures, “tepid” income growth, a cooling housing sector and a decline in the value of merchandise exports.

“Maine’s recovery seems to have stalled,” the report on the state said in conclusion, adding an attention-grabbing kicker: “In fact, Maine was the only state in the country to see a decline over this period, except for Louisiana.”

Commissioner Jack Cashman of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development sounded matter-of-fact.

“It wasn’t a good year for New England and it was a worse year for us,” he said Friday. “We’re off to a good start this year.”

The Fed report has attracted broad notice in political and policy circles.

“The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s report provides a sobering reality of the current health of Maine’s economy,” Scott Moody, vice president of policy and chief economist for The Maine Heritage Policy Center, said in a statement 10 days ago. “While payroll job growth was positive, the overall state of Maine’s economy is bleak.”

Moody, whose organization is championing a spending cap initiative bound for ballots in November known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, said policy makers should “avoid pointing fingers and placing blame for this negative reality.”

“It would behoove policy makers to avoid pointing fingers and placing blame for this negative reality. Instead, they should act to implement pro-growth economic policies that reduce the state tax burden, reform the tax code, and lower health insurance costs. Similar policies have successfully boosted economic growth and job creation in other parts of the country,” he said.

Legislative Republicans made reference to the report in rebutting Democratic claims that the war in Iraq is being financed at the cost of funding for education, health care, transportation and homeland security.

“When only two states go backwards financially, it clearly shows that the cost of the war is not to blame,” assistant House Republican Leader Josh Tardy of Newport said. “Louisiana, we know, got hit by Hurricane Katrina. Maine got hit by Democrats.”

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who is seeking re-election, and other administration officials say Maine fell victim last year to economic uncertainty that inhibited business investment and consumer spending.

Baldacci spoke of a “triple threat” – fears of military base closings along with concerns about energy prices and about the impact of an MBNA merger with Bank of America.

“What I tell people is, look, the first two years we came out of the box like gangbusters,” says Baldacci, offering his view of the first half of his gubernatorial term. “And then you ran into the so-called triple threat there (which) kind of slowed Maine down somewhat.”

Reiterating his campaign theme that “we are not satisfied,” Baldacci says his plan for promoting growth relies on Pine Tree development zones, increased investment in research and development and a focus on culture, the arts and other elements of what has come to be called the creative economy.

Independent gubernatorial candidate Barbara Merrill, a state representative from Appleton, has criticized Baldacci for a state budget borrowing proposal, and Green Independent standard-bearer Pat LaMarche warns that better jobs elsewhere are causing young Mainers to move away.

Republican nominee Chandler Woodcock, a state senator from Farmington who highlights his own support for the TABOR referendum proposal, suggests Maine must become more business-friendly.

He also said efforts to blame the Bush administration for state fiscal woes were wrong-headed.

The state needs to become “more humble about business in Maine. … Listen to them,” he said.