SCARBOROUGH (AP) – Democratic Rep. Tom Allen’s underdog effort to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins has set off a two-party free-for-all for southern Maine’s open congressional seat.

Six Democrats and two Republicans – one who just returned from active military duty in Iraq – are seeking their parties’ nomination in June 10 primary election voting.

The departing Allen has kept the 1st District, which stretches from Kittery up the coast to Camden and extends inland to include Bridgton and Augusta, in the Democratic column for his six terms.

In fact, Republicans have won the district only once – James Longley Jr. in 1994 – since John McKernan moved on after two terms in 1987 to serve two terms as governor.

Best known and best financed on the Democratic side is Chellie Pingree, a former state Senate majority leader who failed in her own bid to take down Collins six years ago and then served four years as Washington-based chairwoman of Common Cause.

Backed by EMILY’s List, a national political organization that helps candidates who support abortion rights, Pingree may be most remembered around the state for her efforts to make prescription medicines more affordable.

Pingree, a North Haven resident, didn’t do a lot early on – at least visibly – to take advantage of her wide financial edge. Her campaign had more than $1.1 million in contributions through March, twice that of her closest competitor. As next month’s balloting draws near, her front-runner status has made her a target for attack by some rivals.

Observers say the winner probably won’t be who polls best but rather who is best at turning out the vote. That’s why state Sen. Ethan Strimling, a darling of progressives who heads a social services agency in Portland, and York County District Attorney Mark Lawrence, a former state Senate president who unsuccessfully challenged Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe in 2000, are generally considered to be highly competitive.

Also pressing ahead are former state Sen. Michael Brennan of Portland, a policy associate at the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, and Portland lawyer Adam Cote, a first-time candidate who hails from Sanford in York County.

A former Republican, Cote served as a soldier in Bosnia from 1997 to 1998 and in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. His fundraising prowess and energetic campaigning have raised concerns among Pingree and Strimling supporters and his mining for votes in his native area in southernmost Maine complicates Lawrence’s electoral calculus.

Filling out the Democratic field is another political newcomer and military veteran, Dr. Steve Meister, who directed a field hospital emergency room in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.

The Republican contest matches former state Sen. Charles Summers, the ex-regional director of the federal Small Business Administration who has spent most of the campaign with the Navy in Iraq, and businessman Dean Scontras of Eliot, who has been a sales consultant for a data networking company.

Summers finished second to Longley in a three-way GOP congressional primary in 1994 and unsuccessfully challenged Allen in the 1st District race in 2004. The longtime staffer for Sen. Olympia Snowe was just heading home when state Republicans held their convention earlier this month.

Still, despite his absence, he won a slot on the McCain national delegate slate alongside luminaries of the Republican establishment including Snowe and McKernan.

Announcing his candidacy nearly a year ago before leaving for Baghdad, Summers stressed his background.

“With only two members of Congress, it’s crucial that Maine have strong, experienced representation in Congress. I am eager to put my extensive, real-world experience with small businesses, federal and state government, and the U.S. military to work on behalf of Maine’s hardworking families,” he said.

Since then, his wife Ruth has acted as his campaign surrogate.

Scontras, recently touting an endorsement by the National Right to Life Political Action Committee, used his convention appearance to highlight his conservative positions.

Scontras, a self-described “Reagan Republican,” warned that “our conservative voices are being drowned out by the indignant activist and the professional protester.” He promised to “speak boldly about the immorality of high taxes” and “about the need to protect the sanctity of life.”

Pingree’s fundraising has been criticized by Strimling, who previously cited his support by financial heavy hitters such as L.L. Bean’s Leon Gorman and businessman/activist Robert C.S. Monks.

“The issue is, who is the next congressman from Maine’s 1st District going to listen to, big out-of-state donors or the people they represent?” Strimling asked last month.

Pingree’s campaign, in response, calls attention to a statement from the Public Campaign Action Fund.

“The 1st Congressional District in Maine includes an embarrassment of riches of candidates who support the Voters First Pledge,” said David Donnelly, national campaign director of the group. The pledge promotes public campaign financing.

Brennan, Cote, Lawrence, Meister, Pingree and Strimling all pledged to support legislation modeled on Maine’s Clean Elections system, Donnelly said.

“Since every candidate must play by the rules as they exist today, the real test of who is a reformer is whether they have pledged to overhaul campaign finance laws, not whether they have received donations from certain individuals,” Donnelly said.

Cote, who calls for “a major diplomatic initiative together with a withdrawal timeline for our troops” as a responsible approach on Iraq, criticizes Pingree for blurring her stance on war funding.

This month, scorning the “Mission Accomplished” assertion five years ago by President Bush, Pingree said, “I think America is ready for a change in our priorities and investing that money here at home on health care and rebuilding our economy and the things that really will make us feel more safe and secure.” Pingree is the mother of the current Maine House majority leader, Rep. Hannah Pingree.

Issues aside, the candidates on both sides are still introducing themselves to the electorate. And at a recent Democratic candidates’ forum at the Piper Shores lifecare retirement community in Scarborough, even the moderator had trouble keeping the names straight.

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