2 Senate candidates who found redemption Day, John S . Bangor Daily News ; Bangor, Me. [Bangor, Me]12 June 1996: 1. ProQuest document link
ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leaked a poll showing that [Joe Brennan] would lose to [Susan Collins] in November. It was supposed to persuade Brennan to stay in his retirement condo. In fact, the same poll showed that Brennan would steamroll over all of the Democrats being touted as the party's bright "new faces." Collins and Brennan won easy primary victories Tuesday. The DSCC poll and two subsequent surveys by the Republican Senate Campaign Committee suggest that Collins will enter the fall campaign with about a 10percentage-point advantage. Those surveys were taken, though, before the scandal that likely ended John Hathaway's political career. Brennan is the logical extension of Maine's Democratic senatorial axis, which began with Ed Muskie and continued through George Mitchell. Like Muskie, Brennan is a former governor from humble beginnings. It was Brennan, as governor in 1980, who appointed Mitchell to fill out Muskie's unexpired Senate term.
FULL TEXT Tuesday was redemption for two U.S. Senate candidates. And a tragedy for another. Two years ago, Susan Collins finished with the lowest vote total of any Republican gubernatorial nominee in Maine history. The party's right wing, sore from losing the June primary, hounded Collins like mad dogs from hell. One activist sued to keep Collins' name off the November ballot, claiming that a brief job stint in Massachusetts rendered her ineligible under the state constitution's residency requirement. A newspaper columnist asked Collins, who has never married, if she was a lesbian. She isn't. Her calm denial fed a whispering campaign. The cruelest blow came during a campaign appearance in Bangor. A television reporter called her away from the rostrum, with cameras looking on, and asked the GOP candidate if she knew that her brother had just been arrested trying to buy $1 million worth of marijuana from undercover drug officers. No candidate could overcome those travails. As the gubernatorial campaign wound down, though, polls showed Collins was the candidate closing the fastest. There was another loser that year. Most thought 1994 was Joe Brennan's "last hurrah." Maine voters gave him two terms as governor. Twice he tried for one more and lost narrowly. When Bill Cohen decided to retire from the Senate, Brennan had sunk so deeply into political purgatory that Democratic leaders viewed a Senate bid by him as an embarrassment. Freshman Rep. John Baldacci was the consensus candidate among state Democrats. But he did not dare risk a primary defeat. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leaked a poll showing that Brennan would lose to Collins in November. It was supposed to persuade Brennan to stay in his retirement condo. In fact, the same poll showed that Brennan would steamroll over all of the Democrats being touted as the party's bright "new faces." "Give Joe credit. He saw through all the smoke they were blowing at him," said a political consultant who has worked for and against Brennan. Collins and Brennan won easy primary victories Tuesday. The DSCC poll and two subsequent surveys by the Republican Senate Campaign Committee suggest that Collins will enter the fall campaign with about a 10percentage-point advantage. Those surveys were taken, though, before the scandal that likely ended John PDF GENERATED BY SEARCH.PROQUEST.COM
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Hathaway's political career. With a week to go, old rumors that Hathaway had been investigated for having sex with a 12-year-old baby sitter while living in Alabama surfaced in the media. Hathaway's aides believe they were on track to win the GOP primary before the scandal. They blame Robert Monks, the third Republican candidate, for leaking the story. It's possible Hathaway is an innocent man. There have been many recent cases in which child molestation convictions have been overturned when it became evident that overzealous prosecutors prodded children to make imaginary claims. Just the allegation of child abuse can ruin families. If Hathaway is innocent, he must wonder where he can go "to get his reputation back." In politics, there is no such place for allegations of the sort lodged against him. "He was the Republican Party's fastest-rising star. Had the GOP turnout been 90,000 or lower, we would have gotten 40,000 votes," a Hathaway campaign staffer said. "We would have either won, or run the closest second in the history of Maine Senate campaigns," he claimed. In the end, Collins won because she was the candidate who most resembled Bill Cohen. Conservative on fiscal issues, liberal on social concerns, independent to a fault. That has been the tradition of Maine Republican senators running through Margaret Chase Smith, Bill Cohen and Olympia Snowe. Brennan is the logical extension of Maine's Democratic senatorial axis, which began with Ed Muskie and continued through George Mitchell. Like Muskie, Brennan is a former governor from humble beginnings. It was Brennan, as governor in 1980, who appointed Mitchell to fill out Muskie's unexpired Senate term. This will be a fine race in November. Republicans will be lancing some deep wounds in the wake of the HathawayMonks donnybrook. Collins was the candidate not tarred by that fray. "I give her a lot of credit. She stayed focused and kept out of this thing. I can't think of anything bad to say about Susan Collins," said a disappointed Hathaway strategist. Brennan will be stronger in November than Republicans expect. His eight years as governor are looking better historically following the budget collapse of John McKernan's final term. While governor and a member of Congress, Brennan was among the few Democrats supporting the line-item veto and constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget -- key provisions of Ross Perot's political movement and the GOP "Contract with America." Brennan will say he's not a "Johnny-come-lately" to the type of fiscal responsibility demanded by those critical nonenrolled voters. That swing bloc, which outnumbers both major parties, determines the outcome of all Maine elections. The Reform Party's Steve Bost also has staked out that constituency. I'll make one prediction about November. There will be no more bombshells. Voters will notice a decline in negative television commercials. I know of no enmity between Collins, Brennan and Bost. Expect an issue-driven campaign. Maine voters made it clear Tuesday they don't like the other kind. -- BANGOR
DETAILS Company / organization:
Name: Senate; NAICS: 921120; Name: Republican Party; NAICS: 813940
Publication title:
Bangor Daily News; Bangor, Me.
First page:
1
Number of pages:
0
Publication year:
1996
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Publication date:
Jun 12, 1996
Publisher:
Bangor Publishing Company
Place of publication:
Bangor, Me.
Country of publication:
United States
Publication subject:
General Interest Periodicals--United States
ISSN:
08928738
Source type:
Newspapers
Language of publication:
English
Document type:
COLUMN
ProQuest document ID:
413859359
Document URL:
http://www.library.umaine.edu/auth/EZProxy/test/authej.asp?url=http://search.proq uest.com/docview/413859359?accountid=8120
Copyright:
(Copyright 1996)
Last updated:
2010-06-27
Database:
Global Newsstream
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