NORWAY – Four years ago, the Oxford County Democratic organization just wasn’t – organized, that is.

“We didn’t have an organized structure,” said its chair, Cathy Newell of Greenwood. But after George W. Bush was elected president, “the 2000 election really woke people up.”

Now, with the election three months away, the Oxford County Democratic engine is revving into high gear. The organization has opened headquarters in downtown Norway and Mexico, and has set up a Web site with details galore about Democratic candidates for state House and Senate seats.

All the candidates have links to a separate page detailing their campaigns. There’s a photo gallery showing candidates on the campaign trail, visiting summer festivals and selectmen’s meetings. There’s also a youth page, calendar of events, news, a place to contribute, and contact information.

“In the 90s, most of the energy was coming from statewide or national races,” said Newell. Candidates running for the state Legislature “were really on their own.”

All that changed with the implementation in 2000 of Maine’s Clean Election Law. The county committees never did fund raising before the law was passed.

“It means the county committee has to be much more active. We do group advertising, and provide space on our Web site for (the candidates) so they don’t have to have their own Web site. The last thing I wanted was for our candidates to worry about updating their Web site. They should be doing the things that only they can do – like campaigning,” Newell said.

Newell said the Maine Democratic Party has recognized the need “to really have hardworking efforts in all the towns” early on in the race toward the November elections.

When Newell retired as director of adult education at SAD 44, she agreed to chair the county organization. The job has been a big one, she said, “considering how inactive we have been.”

Her counterpart on the Republican side, Oxford County Republican Chairman Paul Billings, said plans are in the works to open their Norway office the last week in August.

As for a Web site, Billings said “we will be putting something together very shortly.”