Presidential campaign visits to Maine’s 2nd Congressional District are now almost a daily phenomenon. And they’re becoming further divorced from the democratic process by the hour.

The joke’s on us, meaning the media. That’s because we’re allowed to attend these too-structured “campaign rallies.”

With an ever-decreasing number of exceptions, you’re not.

This is not written to inspire jealousy. To borrow Jenna and Barbara Bush’s apparently favorite colloquial pronoun, y’all simply deserve to know that both the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards campaigns want your vote. They just don’t always want you around.

Speaking to a few dozen representatives of the Maine College Republicans at Bates College on Wednesday afternoon, the president’s twin daughters worked Maine’s friendliest room this side of Jerry Seinfeld’s recent stand-up show in Portland.

George W. Bush deserves a second term, they argued. Well, maybe “argued” is a strong word.

“My dad,” said Barbara, “is obviously awesome.”

Photo ops

Wednesday was a softball doubleheader in Lewiston-Auburn.

Across the river, Democratic state Sen. Neria Douglass hosted an invitation-only kitchen table gathering with Jim Rassman, the former Green Beret whom John Kerry rescued in Vietnam.

Notice the challenger’s campaign didn’t choose an American Legion or Veterans Park in Lewiston. Space was limited. Only local Friends of John needed apply.

Again, our news and photography staff was invited. Go figure.

Maine’s four electoral votes are so prized, so up-for-grabs that the campaigns are using every weapon in their artillery in the hunt for publicity. On their own terms.

Interviews with the Bush twins were forbidden. Not even the students could ask questions. The rule: Photos and handshakes only.

Nothing to deviate from the script. Those written remarks paid lip service to the democratic process, whether or not that process was being advanced by the event.

“Our dad exposed us to many ideas through his friends from all areas of the country from all political backgrounds,” Jenna Bush said.

Across Campus Avenue, more than 100 students from the opposite end of the political spectrum used their only available forum to voice their dissent.

“Your dad kills innocent people,” read a queen-size bedsheet sign.

Makes you wonder if the Bush-Cheney campaign chose the site and streamlined the audience for a reason. Here in battleground Maine, after all, any publicity is good publicity.

By their rules

For the most part, though, the campaigns prefer sanitized ink.

When the first lady visited Lewiston earlier this month, the Sun Journal requested an interview. You’ll have eight minutes with Laura, editors were told. But the reporter must be female.

This was a “W’ Stands for Women” rally, you see. Male reporters were as welcome as registered Democrats trying to secure one of the free tickets.

John Edwards’ appearance in Lewiston on Sunday was lauded as bipartisan by comparison. Still, when the newspaper requested one-on-one time with the Democratic vice presidential candidate, his handlers imposed one major condition. The transcript of that interview wouldn’t be allowed to run in Monday’s paper.

Pretty clever way to steal more headline bang for one visit’s buck. Just not a shining example of democracy in action.

“We are at a critical junction as a nation,” Maine College Republicans Chairman Dan Schuberth, a 20-year-old Bowdoin College student, said at the rally prior to the twins’ speech.

Absolutely. We are. Which is why open, issue-driven dialogue is so important. But you won’t be hearing it in Maine.

You won’t see much in tonight’s first televised debate from Coral Gables, Fla., either. The candidates signed a 32-page laundry list of agreements ahead of time.

Included was a promise not to ask direct questions of one another.

The two-party system is obviously awesome. Just more devoid of substance than ever.

Kalle Oakes is the Sun Journal’s staff columnist. His e-mail is [email protected].