Even Maine Democrats are surprised by the way they and their supporters are pumping money into the coming election. Move over Republicans.

LEWISTON – Political fundraising in Maine appears to be following the national trend of breaking records and favoring Democrats.

Mainers have already donated more money to both the Democratic and Republican parties and candidates during the 2008 election cycle, which is still under way, than the complete 2006 cycle. According to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group in Washington D.C., individual donors in Maine gave about $3.45 million to federal candidates, parties and political action committees in the 2006 cycle. As of early March, Maine donors have contributed more than $4 million in the current cycle.

Fundraising is always up during presidential years, experts say, but there is a more fundamental change in the works this time around.

“For as long as we’ve been keeping track, the Republicans have tended to always outraise the Democrats,” said Mark Brewer, a professor of political science at the University of Maine at Orono. “In this particular election cycle so far, that is simply not the case.”

Brewer said most people are aware Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York have been outraising the likely Republican candidate John McCain of Arizona, but they are not alone.

On the national level, “The Democrats in the House and in the Senate are really seriously outraising the Republicans and that is very unusual,” he said.

House Democrats have raised about $23 million more than their Republican counterparts, and Senate Democrats has outraised Senate Republicans by about $33 million, according to Federal Elections Commission records. Republicans, however, still hold a fundraising edge with the national party committees, raising about $51 million more than the Democrats so far.

Peter Chandler, a campaign manager for the Maine Democratic State Committee, said the party’s fundraising goal is in the millions.

“I am shocked at the level of involvement and the increase in the actual individual small donors to the party,” Chandler said. “In two months alone, we raised over $10,000 on the Internet. It may not sound like a lot, but when it comes in $10, $20 and $30 checks, that’s a significant amount of people. By November, we are going to be a multi-million-dollar corporation.”

Julie Ann O’Brien, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said her budget is “very small.”

O’Brien said many Maine Republican donors prefer to give contributions directly to the candidates, rather than to the state party organization.

Brewer, at UMaine, said the fundraising success of the Maine Democratic Party is due to increasing enthusiasm for the party and Internet-savvy donors.

“So far the Democrats have really adapted to the Internet age much better than the Republicans,” he said.

O’Brien agreed.

“I’m not of that (Internet) generation, but I think that’s becoming the way of the world,” she said. O’Brien said her organization still relies on its mail-in program and hosting events to collect most contributions.

Internet fundraising has transformed the political landscape, beginning with Howard Dean’s presidential bid in 2000. Most recently, Clinton’s campaign made history raising $10 million from about 60,000 individual donors in the 24 hours following the Pennsylvania primary win, a feat that would have been virtually impossible without the Internet.

Amy Fried, another political science professor at UMaine, said Internet fundraising helps build a connection with donors that goes beyond a one-time contribution.

“It’s easier to give money to a party than it has been,” said Fried. “That’s where technology matters … gathering e-mails and contacting them regularly, building more of a party apparatus in the state.”

Chandler, of the Maine Democratic Party, said his group has recently opened seven offices statewide, matching what it had at the end of the 2006 cycle. State GOP chief O’Brien said her group operates from its office in Augusta and has no plans to open any field offices.

“We’re a very, very lean machine,” O’Brien said. “We really only have two staff, as opposed to what I understand is 30 staff on the Democratic side.”

Chandler said part of the Maine Democratic fundraising success has been a result of the state’s changing party landscape, and pointed to Oxford County as an example.

“I remember back in 1996, when I was a county caucus director, even finding legislative candidates to run on the Democratic ticket over there was tough. You’ve seen a huge shift over there,” he said. “Just two weeks ago, almost 100 people showed up for a (Democratic) county committee meeting in Fryeburg. Things like this just haven’t happened before.”

Trying to take advantage of former Republican strongholds may prove fruitful for Maine Democrats.

In 2006, the majority of individual political contributions from 10 of Maine’s 16 counties went to Republicans, according to a county-by-county analysis of donors completed by the Center for Responsive Politics.

But so far this year, five of those 10 counties have flipped. Currently residents in Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Waldo and York counties now contribute more to Democrats than Republicans. Even counties like Oxford, Aroostook and Somerset, which still contribute mostly to Republicans, have seen an increase in Democratic fundraising, according to the data. Donations originating in Androscoggin County have been virtually split in both cycles.

A comparison of current state voter registration with records from 1994 shows a 2 percent decline in registered Republicans. But this alone doesn’t appear to explain the fundraising discrepancy, as the enrollment of Democrats declined 1 percent as well. The records show an increasing percentage of Mainers registered with independent parties and in the unenrolled category.

Chris Potholm, professor at Bowdoin College and long-time Maine political pundit, said the state began drifting more to the left about 50 years ago. He wasn’t surprised to hear of the state Democratic fundraising success.

“I don’t think the Republicans have caught up to the Democrats in terms of (online fundraising) yet,” he said.

But Potholm predicted that at least statewide, by the next presidential election, Republicans will have successfully adjusted to the times.

“In the case of Maine, both sides will be even when it comes to the Internet,” he said.