Free Republic

President Barack Obama won reelection last year warning voters about what he called an extreme Republican agenda that would roll back the social and economic victories of the previous years. But that agenda is on the move in the states, and on the ballot in next year’s most competitive governors’ races — all of them in places he won in both 2008 and 2012: Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine and Michigan. The White House has committed to its first Democratic Governors Association fundraising event of the cycle and pledged to help candidates next year, people familiar with the discussions confirmed...

Erick Bennett, a Portland political consultant and founder of the conservative Maine Equal Rights Center, announced Monday that he’ll run as a primary challenger to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. But in an interview, Bennett seemed pretty ho-hum about whether or not he really wants to serve in the Senate. He said the primary challenge is not about him, but about facilitating a conversation among Republicans about Collins’ voting record. Bennett said he’d asked several prominent Republicans — he hinted at CD2 contenders Kevin Raye and Bruce Poliquin — to run against Collins, but no one was interested. So the mantle...

When the intensely private Rep. Mike Michaud laid bare his private life and announced he’s gay, one openly gay congressman joked that the Maine Democrat had never registered on his “gaydar.” As he prepares to return to Capitol Hill this week as the seventh openly gay member of the U.S. House, Michaud said the decision to come out this week was a positive experience that drew support from fellow congressmen and hundreds of constituents—even if it was political nastiness that prompted his announcement. … Michaud, who’s engaged in a three-way race for governor, used an op-ed provided to two newspapers...

John McCain voted yea WASHINGTON, D.C., November 7, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This afternoon the Senate approved a bill that could force business owners who adhere to traditional values to hire homosexuals, bisexuals, and those who do not dress in accordance with their biological sex or face litigation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed following a bipartisan 64-32 vote. Supporters say it would forbid “workplace discrimination” against homosexuals and transgender employees and job-seekers. But critics say, like the HHS mandate, its religious exemption is unduly narrow and would force employers – including Christian schools and nurseries – to violate their consciences....

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R) Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran (R) Maine Senator Susan Collins (R) Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) Massachusetts Senator William "Mo" Cowan (D) Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi (R) Minnesota Senator Al Franken (DFL) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (D) Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe (R) Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R) South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson (D) Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D) Kentucky...

The six-term congressman’s announcement in an op-ed column may influence the 2014 election to lead the state. Maine political observers offered early reaction Monday to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud’s announcement that he’s gay, ending years of speculation and potentially sharply changing the dynamic of the 2014 gubernatorial race. Michaud, 57, currently serving his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, made the disclosure in a column submitted to three of the state’s major news outlets.He said he was making the announcement in response to “the whisper campaigns, insinuations and push polls” that unidentified people have been using to...

A time lapse shot of the USS Zumwalt being moved from the pier to the drydock, and then to the water.

BATH, ME -- After embarrassing troubles with its latest class of surface warships, the Navy is hoping for a winner from a new destroyer that's ready to go into the water. So far, construction of the first-in-class Zumwalt, the largest U.S. Navy destroyer ever built, is on time and on budget, something that's a rarity in new defense programs, officials said. And the Navy believes the ship's big gun, stealthy silhouette and advance features will make it a formidable package.

Advocates of recreational marijuana use are looking to an upcoming vote in Maine as an indicator of whether the East Coast is ready to follow in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington by legalizing cannabis. Voters in Portland are being asked whether they want to make it legal for adults 21 and over to possess -- but not purchase or sell -- up to 2.5 ounces of pot. The Nov. 5 vote is being eyed nationally as momentum grows in favor of legalizing marijuana use.

The White House and the Senate are working to squeeze House Republicans into accepting a bipartisan compromise from the upper chamber to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. Any emerging deal, however, will leave ObamaCare largely intact, angering conservatives who have demanded defunding or delaying President Obama’s signature achievement. House Republicans are fuming over the prospect that Senate Democrats and Republicans are working on a plan to jam them with a last-minute deal they would have to accept or risk triggering a federal default. “They are trying to jam us with the Senate and we are not going...

BANGOR — The Electronic Benefits Transfer system that allows welfare recipients to buy groceries and other necessities experienced issues on Saturday. In some cases, people weren’t able to buy groceries. The website for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the EBT system, is offline because of the government shutdown.

enate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are taking the lead on talks to raise the debt limit and reopen the government, according to senators. Reid and McConnell are working off a six-point proposal sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would fund the government for six months and raise the debt ceiling until Jan. 31, 2014. Senators view discussions between the two leaders as a promising sign of potential bipartisan compromise. “Reid and McConnell are talking now and those discussions continue so I see that as progress,” said Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas)....

Customers at BJ’s Wholesale Club, Hannaford supermarkets and other grocery stores in Maine abandoned their carts at registers and headed home empty-handed earlier Saturday. Lou Craig, the owner of College Carry-Out in Augusta, said he had to turn away about 50 customers Saturday because the system wouldn’t accept their EBT cards. “They just won’t go through,” he said. “It just prints out ‘declined.’ ” Craig said its a particularly busy time for those using food stamps, because their cards are usually reloaded with cash value from the 10th through the 14th. Jason Quincannon, acting store manager at Hannaford on Forest...

People in Ohio, Michigan and several other states found themselves unable to use their food stamp debit cards on Saturday, after a routine check by vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a system failure. Shoppers from Maine to Oklahoma had to abandon baskets of groceries because they couldn't access their benefits.Ohio's cash and food assistance card payment systems went down at 11 a.m., said Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Ohio's cash system has been fixed, however its electronic benefits transfer card system is still down. All states that use Xerox systems are affected...

A trio of centrist Senate Republicans is pushing a plan to reopen the government for six months, extend the debt ceiling until Jan. 31, 2014 and make reforms to ObamaCare. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is spearheading the proposal along with Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). It would address Tea-Party conservatives concerns over Medicare by delaying the medical device tax for two years and creating an income verification program under the Affordable Care Act to ensure only eligible individuals receive subsidies on the insurance exchanges. The delay of the Medical Device Tax would be paid for by extending...

"This guy approached him on going to scare, possibly beat, up, not kill somebody, and he would pay him, and pay him quite a bit of money," she explained. They say Dennison went to the home on Foss Hill Lane to scare the homeowner into paying back an outstanding debt. "I know it's not legal, it's not right," Thibault admitted. They say their family is struggling financially and so Dennison was trying to help. But State Police tell another side of this story. "He was up to no good," explained police spokesman Steve McCausland. Police say Dennison, wearing a black...

Rangers issue a handful of citations over the weekend for alleged trespassing. The government shutdown closed the national park Oct. 1. For months, Julie and Eugene Gillies of South Portland planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary in Bar Harbor. They weren’t about to let a political fight in Congress get in the way of their plans to see Acadia National Park, which they visited on their honeymoon 34 years ago. Riding on small motor scooters beneath a bright blue sky Sunday morning, the couple went around the barricades and past the sign declaring the park closed and joined what they...

In which we award today's King Canute Award to that famous pillar of Jell-O, Susan Collins of Maine, useless walking pile of abject irrelevance. "I voted against Obamacare and have repeatedly voted to repeal, reform, and replace it, but I disagree with the strategy of linking Obamacare with the continuing functioning of government-a strategy that cannot possibly work. Instead, I urge the President and congressional leaders to sit down immediately and negotiate at least a stopgap funding measure to avoid a disruption in many vital programs on which our citizens rely. I also call on the President to resume the...

Conservative groups advising Americans not to sign up for the Obamacare exchanges “are guilty of murder,” according to Maine independent Sen. Angus King. King, who caucuses with the Democrats, told Salon in an interview published Monday that efforts to dissuade young people from signing up is a “scandal,” and a deadly one. “That’s a scandal — those people are guilty of murder in my opinion,” King said in a Friday interview with Salon’s Brian Beutler. “Some of those people they persuade are going to end up dying because they don’t have health insurance.” “For people who do that to other

ROME, Maine — Maine State Police say a man was shot to death in the town of Rome as he was attempting a home invasion. Police said 44-year-old Christopher Dennison of Livermore Falls was wearing a ski mask and brass knuckles as he broke into a mobile home on Foss Hill Lane on Saturday night. Police said the homeowner, 48-year-old Richard Duffy, shot Dennison after a brief altercation with him in the living room. An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner's office showed Dennison died from multiple gunshot wounds. Duffy and his teenage son were not hurt, and there was...