More than 100 people gathered Thursday at the Libby-Tozier School in Litchfield to attend a meeting of the William R. Bold American Legion Post 181 featuring a former prisoner of war as guest speaker.

Retired U.S. Navy Commander Robert S. Fant, a part-time Litchfield resident, was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese on July 29, 1968. He spoke for about an hour and a half about his POW experience before an audience of mostly veterans.

Fant said he was imprisoned nearly five years, and met Sen. John McCain, also a prisoner in North Vietnam, 12 weeks before his release.

“I washed clothes with him, got to know him,” Fant said of McCain. “We’re good friends to this day.”

When asked by an audience member what personal characteristic was most memorable about McCain, Fant said, “He’s got a lot of spunk.”

“He’s determined, courageous and a tough little guy,” Fant said. “He did a lot of amazing things. He knew what he was doing when he turned down (the North Vietnamese) offer for release and he got continuous beatings for it. He’s a hard man, but an honest man, trustworthy.”

Maine candidates slack off

Despite a historically high participation rate, only two of Maine’s six congressional candidates returned Project Vote Smart’s “Political Courage Test” on time.

Project Vote Smart is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group based in Montana that collects and distributes information on political candidates. Each election year, candidates are asked to complete the same questionnaire created by the group focusing on the top issues, dubbed the “Political Courage Test.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican running for re-election, and Chellie Pingree, a Democrat running for Congress in Maine’s 1st District, completed the forms, and their answers may be found by visiting the Project Vote Smart Web site, www.vote-smart.org.

Both Maine’s congressmen, Rep. Tom Allen, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, and Rep. Mike Michaud, a Democrat running for re-election in Maine’s 2nd District, failed to return the forms, marking a change from past election years. Their responses to last year’s questions may be found at the group’s Web site.

In 1998, 2000 and 2006 Maine congressional candidates had a 100 percent response rate, according to a release from Project Vote Smart. This is the first time in seven election cycles Maine has fallen below the 50 percent participation rate.

Republican challengers for both districts, Charlie Summers, running for the 1st District, and John Frary, running for the 2nd District, also failed to complete the forms. A spokesman for the Summers campaign said they are currently “working” on the questionnaire and just missed the deadline for submission. Frary said he doesn’t intend to fill out the form.

“I’ve written a multitude of columns in local papers and on my Web site, I don’t need (Project Vote Smart) to sit and judge me,” Frary said.

Calls Friday evening to the offices of Allen and Michaud for comment were unsuccessful.

One millionth phone call

Volunteers for the Maine Democratic Party reached a one million call milestone Wednesday night, according to spokeswoman Rebecca Pollard.

“There are about 1.3 million people in the entire state of Maine, so the fact that our staff and volunteers have made one million calls, and by mid-September, is nothing less than extraordinary,” Pollard said.

She did clarify that though one million calls had been made, one million people had not actually been reached. The count includes hang-ups, calls made to answering machines and multiple calls made to the same residence.

Collins ad features Maineiacs

A new advertisement by Republican Senate candidate Susan Collins, which began airing Friday, features shots of the Lewiston Maineiacs. Collins uses the spot to promote an immigration law she wrote allowing minor league athletes, such as the Maineiacs, to qualify for the same category of immigration visas as major league athletes. Previously, minor league athletes and coaches from different countries had difficulty getting the necessary visas to play, according to the Collins campaign.

Also featured in the commercial are local Lewiston business owners Jimmy and Linda Simones, who are the host family for two Maineiacs players. Their daughter, Melissa, works in Collins’ Washington, D.C., office.

Obama campaign: active, inclusive

So far, the Obama campaign has opened 12 field offices in Maine, though most are shared with the Victory 2008 Coordinated Campaign and both groups are projects of the Maine Democratic Party, according to Jessica Santillo, spokeswoman for Maine’s Obama campaign.

Saturday is a busy day of campaigning for Obama supporters, featuring the launch of Maine Farmers for Obama in Hampden, a day of canvassing by Obama’s Campus Coalition for Change in Lewiston and a coordinated group of women volunteers across the state will help register new voters. Women for Obama will launch officially on Monday in Portland.

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