Call it amateurish. Call it unscientific. Call it gimmicky. They’re all correct.

Today is Day 1 of the goldfish era at the Sun Journal. A fish tank filled with the finest water from the Androscoggin River is gurgling away here at the newspaper’s headquarters, with five finned friends named for Maine’s five gubernatorial candidates swimming merrily inside.

Little Barbara, Chandler, John, Pat and Phillip face a simple task: surviving the Androscoggin, a river with a polluted reputation, both in the Twin Cities and in Augusta. Progress in cleaning the river has eluded state officials so far, but the river did do some housecleaning in the capital in December, when the ex-commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection resigned amid scandal.

Dawn Gallagher was accused of meeting secretly with paper mill representatives, and horse trading agency enforcement actions with legislators and the mills. For riverside residents, it was business as usual, all unfulfilled promises and back room dealings.

Gov. John Baldacci, in reacting to the Sun-Journal’s experiment, said the state “is making positive progress on the health of the Androscoggin.” We agree; Gallagher’s departure from DEP removed a tremendous obstacle in the path to restoring the river’s health. The more stringent requirements sought on paper mill discharges by her replacement, David Littell, were also sorely needed.

Now, governor, it’s time for the quality of the water to match the intensity of your rhetoric.

Whichever governor comes to occupy the Blaine House this November, that is. None of the five candidates – Baldacci, Chandler Woodcock, Barbara Merrill, Pat LaMarche or Philip NaPier – is immune from criticism, or praise, for their opinions on the future vitality of the mighty Androscoggin.

All know about their place in the Sun Journal’s tank, and if we have our way, all will come face-to-floating face with their precious piscine partners. Then, we hope, cleaning the Androscoggin will truly hit home with the candidates, as they likely won’t want to see their swimming namesake afloat first.

The public can keep tabs on the Sun Journal’s goldfish on our Website, www.sunjournal.com, where a Webcam will monitor them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the Nov. 7 election. The Los Angeles Times invented this experiment last year; it’s through their inspiration that we bring you ours.

Updates on the Little Barbara, Chandler, John, Pat and Philip will also appear daily in the newspaper.

So let the race for the Androscoggin begin! But before setting off, one last word of warning to the candidates: It’s no coincidence groups of fish are known as schools.

It’s our intention that you learn something from this. Cleaning the Androscoggin is long overdue.