The man behind Maine’s GOP upstarts: Political strategist Brent Littlefield

http://bangordailynews.com ^ | Jan. 04, 2015 | By Mario Moretto

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AUGUSTA, Maine — While Gov. Paul LePage and U.S. Rep.-elect Bruce Poliquin were the ones giving victory speeches after Election Day, it’s arguable that another Republican was an equal winner: political strategist Brent Littlefield.

A consultant who crafted the successful campaigns of both LePage and Poliquin, Littlefield proved beyond a doubt in 2014 that he’s got a winning strategy for electing conservative Republicans in Maine. But he’s not telling anybody what that strategy is.

“I don’t want to give away the secret sauce just yet,” Littlefield, a Maine native who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, said in a recent interview. “I’m 44 years old. I’m not going away anytime soon, and I do expect future victories.”

After Littlefield helped secure what many political observers deemed an improbable victory for LePage in 2010, the governor’s then-campaign chief of staff called Littlefield an “important cog” in the campaign’s machine. This year, LePage and Poliquin both defied the expectations of many political observers, earning the consultant even higher praise from party officials.

Littlefield “is one of the most successful and effective political minds we have in Maine,” said Maine GOP chairman Rick Bennett. “The results speak for themselves.”

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This guy has the right approach. There was a similar approach taken by Rick Scott in Florida and it works. You must tell your story and you must drive issues. Just running against liberals isn't enough in the north east and in blue states. It isn't that they won't vote for conservatives most are apolitical. Even Rhode Island had a two term conservative Governor not too long ago.

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well said!

[Aetius]

The GOP does need to figure out how to win more non-leftist white northern voters. It would probabaly be easier to win working class whites in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin than whites in northeastern states, but none should be written off.

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They should have learned something from the Reagan wins and also from the races like Maine. I think the North East is prime territory as well as the mid atlantic and midwest states. The biggest problem we face in those states is a shallow bench of candidates and few that have the kind of back stories such as LePage and others that even if they do have a good story they don’t have the money to sell it. So what we usually end up with is either a rich candidate who is left of center or a right of center candidate who is used to running in a conservative friendly area of the state and doesn’t know how to appeal outside of the base or we end up with someone who just runs for the heck of it with no money and no chance in hell of winning.

I found this picture of Maine interesting. LePage came very close to an absolute majority this time. Maine is shifting steadily to the right under his governorship and he isn’t a wilting violet conservative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_gubernatorial_election,_2014