On June 10, Maine voters will go to the polls to decide who will represent their political party in races for Congress and the state Legislature this November.

Statewide, Democrats will choose between U.S. Rep. Tom Allen and Tom Ledue of Springvale, both contending to be the party’s pick to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in the general election. Collins has no primary opponent.

In District 1 – southern and southern coastal Maine – Democrats will choose among six candidates, Republicans between two, all vying for the seat being vacated by Allen.

In addition, voters in a number of Maine communities will decide who will represent their party in races for the state Legislature. There will be primaries for six Senate races and 18 House contests across the state.

Beginning today, we will look at the primary contests that voters in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties will decide.

Today: The Allen-Ledue race, which will decide who will face Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate contest.

Monday: The matchup between three of Lewiston’s well-known Democrats: state Rep. Margaret Craven, state Rep. Elaine Makas and political activist Paul Madore, all trying to fill the state Senate seat left by termed-out Peggy Rotundo.

Tuesday: The face-off between former Lewiston Police Chief and current Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert and former Fire Chief Mike Lajoie, to serve in Makas’ seat.

Tom Allen
Offering 12 years experience in the House and a burning desire to get Democratic control of the Senate.

LEWISTON – With the sleeves of his light-blue Oxford shirt rolled up, U.S. Senate candidate Tom Allen ladled baked beans with a smile to supporters gathered at a campaign event at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston on a Saturday early in May. He was the classic image of a politician, shaking hands and chatting with voters, an enormous American flag draped from the wall behind him.

The Portland Democrat has served as Maine’s 1st District representative for 12 years, but decided to pass up running for re-election in favor of challenging U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, for her Senate seat.

Allen said he’s trying to make the move to Congress’ more exclusive club so his party can achieve a “working majority” and successfully take on major issues.

“There are five or six Senate seats in this country that will decide whether or not we bring our troops home from Iraq, restore a sense of fiscal responsibility, provide some form of universal health care coverage and have an energy and climate change policy that is adequate for the challenges we face,” Allen said.

Allen has spent his time in Congress focusing on the environment and health care, serving on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over both issues. His voting record has consistently earned him top ratings by the League of Conservation Voters and the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

Allen said he learned important lessons about being a legislator from a pair of Maine’s most popular politicians, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Ed Muskie.

Allen worked alongside Mitchell when both were staffers for Muskie, who was serving in the Senate at the time.

“It shaped my view of what these jobs are about,” Allen said of the experience. “These elected positions are about taking on major issues that matter to people in Maine and being willing to stand up to the special interests to get something important done. We’re supposed to go and do something. It’s never easy down here, never easy.”

The difficulty of getting things done in Washington is certainly familiar to Allen, who has yet to see any legislation of his own become law.

During his first term in the House, Allen established a Prescription Drug Task Force to help address skyrocketing prescription drug costs. He also wrote a bill that would have allowed seniors on Medicare to purchase some prescriptions at a discounted rate, which garnered widespread Democratic support.

But the legislation was killed in committee by Republican leadership.

Allen is quick to point out the importance of the 2006 congressional elections, which placed the Democratic Party in charge of the House after 12 years of Republican rule. Now Democratic leadership makes decisions about which bills move to the floor for votes, easing the challenges facing Democratic legislators hoping to see their ideas make the law books.

“The last year and a half has been terrific,” he said.

Allen is particularly proud of his bill to ban the U.S. from exporting mercury. He said while we have banned many uses of the well-known toxin within our own borders, the U.S. continues to export the substance to other countries.

“It’s used by people who pan for gold in Third World countries,” he said. “There are estimates that 30 percent of all mercury pollution in the U.S. comes from foreign sources; so we banned the use of mercury for all sorts of purposes here, but we export it to developing countries, which use it in ways that we wouldn’t tolerate.”

The bill has passed the House but has yet to be taken up in the Senate.

Given his positive experience as a part of the majority in the House, it’s not surprising how fervently Allen believes Democrats need to expand their majority in the Senate to be effective; the 100-member body is tenuously balanced with 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and two Independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

“We need changes here across the board,” Allen told voters in Lewiston. “I’ve heard one thing from you over and over again, from many of you tonight. We need change. But to do that, we’re going to need 56 or 57 or 58 Democrats in the United States Senate.”

Allen has been anointed by the Democratic National Committee as the best candidate to replace Collins in what is billed as one of the most hotly contested Senate races in the country. He’s also received fundraising help from liberal groups like Moveon.org and Actblue.com, while his competition in the upcoming primary – the woefully out-funded former high school administrator Tom Ledue – has seen none. Ledue has about $3,500 in campaign funds compared to Allen’s more than $2.5 million, according to the most recent filings that reflect campaign accounts through the end of March.

Allen has all but ignored his primary opponent, declining all invitations to debate Ledue. When asked about his Democratic competition, his campaign responds that Allen is “focused on the fall election.”