AUGUSTA (AP) – Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, the only major candidate in the race for the Blaine House who is raising money from private contributors, declared Tuesday he has not yet reached the threshold of collecting donations or spending on his re-election effort that would trigger matching funds for his publicly financed opponents.

That leaves Republican nominee Chandler Woodcock, Green Independent Pat LaMarche and independent Barbara Merrill standing in place in the campaign finance picture, relying on what remains of the $400,000 initial disbursements they received under Maine’s Clean Election system.

A spokesman for Woodcock, Chris Jackson, said the GOP hopeful had budgeted all along for a $400,000 general election campaign but was prepared to adjust his spending blueprint upward if expenditures by or on behalf of Baldacci result in the release of additional public financing disbursements to offset a financial advantage for the incumbent.

Woodcock has a “Plan A, and Plan B, C and D,” Jackson said with a laugh.

Baldacci’s declaration Tuesday asserted that he had not taken in or expended more than $404,000 – the so-called 101 percent threshold.

Last Friday, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices voted 4-1 against releasing matching funds in response to gubernatorial campaign ads that have been paid for by the Republican Governors Association and the Maine Democratic Party.

A month ago, the executive director of the state agency that disburses public money to eligible candidates for the Legislature and governorship said there will be “sufficient funds to pay all candidates in this year’s election.”

Appearing before a regular monthly meeting of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, Jonathan Wayne of the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices said that, at worst, the commission “might not be able to continue its past practice of advancing the maximum amount of matching funds to candidates” before they are authorized to actually draw on them.

Wayne suggested at the time that could only happen if independent gubernatorial candidate John Michael succeeded in reversing a commission staff recommendation that he be denied public funding. Michael has since dropped out of the race.

Maine’s Clean Election system was approved by voters in 1996. Under the system, qualified candidates must also agree not to raise private funds and to limit spending. Nonparticipating candidates may raise and spend money without limitation. If a participating candidate is outspent by a candidate raising private funds, matching money becomes available.

A gubernatorial candidate is eligible for $200,000 for a primary campaign and $400,000 for the general election. A candidate could also receive up to $800,000 more in matching funds.