The Maine Democratic Party began mixing a new television ad into its rotation late last week.

Featuring Sherry Huber, a well-known Republican, the ad challenges Republican gubernatorial candidate Chandler Woodcock’s position on abortion.

The line of attack isn’t new. The Democratic Party has been critical of Woodcock’s abortion voting record since June 14, the day after the Republican primary. Woodcock is solidly pro-life.

Adding Huber, however, is a new twist.

The ad uses images from earlier party ads along with Huber talking directly to the camera.

“Maine people believe in a woman’s right to make her most personal decisions in private,” Huber says, adding later that she’s a Republican and that Woodcock is “out of touch” with state voters.

Huber is a former member of the Maine House of Representatives. She ran for governor twice. She is also a founding member of the Family Planning Association of Maine and is the executive director of the Maine Tree Foundation.

With eight days left before the election, Democrats are trying to pry pro-choice Republican women away from their party’s nominee.

A tough decision

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who’s running for re-election, declined to take a position on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights during an editorial board meeting last week with the Sun Journal.

Like the state’s junior senator, Susan Collins, Snowe said she was weighing the evidence.

Showe called TABOR a “very weighty question” that comes from the frustration voters feel about the state’s high tax burden.

“I’m thinking about it,” Snowe said. “It’s a tough question.”

Snowe added that she didn’t want to overly influence voters’ decisions on a state issue.

Snowe is being challenged by Democrat Jean Hay Bright and independent William Slavick.

Road trip to Philly

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the chairwoman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, traveled to Pennsylvania last week to lend a hand to her Republican colleague Rick Santorum.

Collins is popular and moderate.

Santorum is neither.

He faces a tight fight for re-election against Democrat and state Treasurer Bob Casey. A number of public polls from the state show the incumbent trailing.

Santorum has made headlines for some of his indelicate remarks during his time in the U.S. Senate and his close ties to the Bush administration.

Collins joined other Senate moderates in Philadelphia to rally support for Santorum.

The moderates might not have a lot in common with Santorum, but with the Senate up for grabs on Nov. 7 and Democrats apparently gaining ground, Collins’ chairmanship could ride on races in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia, which makes Santorum a friend indeed.

Showtime

The Traveling Politicos will take the stage at the University of Maine Wednesday for a live debate on Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

The five gubernatorial candidates – Democrat John Baldacci, Republican Chandler Woodcock, Green Independent Pat LaMarche and independents Barbara Merrill and Phillip NaPier – will match wits against one another and a panel of political reporters and prognosticators.

The debate will air on both TV and radio at 8 p.m.

Fred Bever will host the debate, and Bangor Daily News reporter A.J. Higgins, professor Michael Socolow and MPBN’s Susan Sharon will do the questioning.

Appeal denied

The Superior Court has sided with the state’s Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

In a decision released Oct. 20, the court refused to overturn a decision by the ethics commission regarding independent expenditures made by the Republican Governors Association and the Maine Democratic Party in support of Republican Chandler Woodcock and Democratic Gov. John Baldacci. The commission found that advertisements run by the two groups did not meet the express advocacy threshold and, therefore, should not trigger matching funds for Green Independent Pat LaMarche and independent Barbara Merrill, both of whom are running as Maine Clean Election Act candidates. Woodcock is also running as a clean candidate.

LaMarche appealed the decision to Superior Court, which affirmed the ethics commission’s decision.

The decision was appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Oct. 24 along with a motion for an expedited hearing. Arguments will be heard a 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Dark and stormy night

The Maine Democratic Party launched a new Halloween-themed Web site over the weekend that challenges Republicans in the state.

Adorned with a stern looking photograph of Republican gubernatorial nominee Chandler Woodcock and what appears to be the house from “Psycho,” the Web site carries the title “Maine GOP House of Horrors.” The site, www.whoischan.org, features “doorway” links to discussions of Woodcock’s voting history that Democrats say are scary.

“We’re trying to add a little levity to some very serious issues,” a party staffer told the Sun Journal.