Maine News for Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Real Clear Politics
RCP Average 10/21 - 10/28, Obama 50.2 to McCain 43.9

Pollster.com
Latest analysis

Portland Press Herald

An angry Allen says Collins crosses line with ads
Election 2008: He accuses her of distorting his voting record at times when family came first.

Sens. Snowe, Collins split on Stevens
Olympia Snowe wants him to resign; Susan Collins wants voters to decide.

Panel: Maine economy needs a few good ideas
A business forum talks of wind farms, biomedical research and the need for many ideas to toss around.

Dow leaps, but hopes for stability fail to follow
Investors are cheered by today's likely cut in interest rates, but they also are bracing for a recession.

Obama infomercial airs at 8 p.m. for half-hour
Obama is the first presidential candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 to purchase a half-hour of prime time.

Mainers gobbling lobster to keep industry afloat
Strong local sales help stabilize prices, but long-term changes are needed to expand the market.

Snow forecast jolts fall season
Ski resorts take notice as Maine's mountains were due to get 1 to 3 inches.

Airing out their differences
Rivals in 1st District spar on health care, taxes and economy

Editorial

Mermin, Suslovic for Portland City Council
Two moderate, articulate problem-solvers lead the field in this year's council races.

There's no clear path to unclogging credit markets
An infusion of capital into healthy banks hasn’t produced the desired result – yet.

GREG KESICHLooking for socialists in all the wrong places
'Socialist' has replaced 'liberal' as the meanest thing one candidate can say to another.

Bangor Daily News

Unemployment spurs state hiring

BANGOR, Maine — The current large number of unemployment claims in Maine means that people are pretty busy at the Maine Department of Labor.

State cuts may slice jobs

AUGUSTA, Maine — Hundreds of state jobs and some existing programs would be eliminated in order to meet Gov. John Baldacci’s goal of reducing state spending by at least 10 percent in the next two-year budget, documents indicate.

Mainers give Obama 19-point lead in poll; Collins ahead

PORTLAND, Maine — A new poll suggests a 19-point lead for Barack Obama over John McCain in the presidential race in Maine, while Republican Sen. Susan Collins maintains a 17-point lead over her Democratic challenger, Rep. Tom Allen.

Guidelines created to track graduation rates

WASHINGTON — High schools are coming under pressure from the federal government to improve the nation’s dismal dropout rate — one in four students.

Study: School consolidation partners report reluctance, pessimism

ORONO, Maine — Communities are doing what they have to do in order to comply with the state’s school consolidation law, but are doing so reluctantly, under compulsion and with little optimism about the final outcome.

Weak economy fails to deter arena panel

BANGOR, Maine — Even in the face of an unstable national economy, the city is not backing off its proposed timeline for a much-needed new arena and convention center.

Bangor housing project gaining ground

BANGOR, Maine — Demolition has begun on a rundown Harlow Street building, a site that soon will become home to a four-story, 55-unit apartment complex specifically marketed to the elderly.

Editorial
Oh, Canada

If you lived in Canada, your national elections would be over by now. And you …

An Unnecessary Ending

The McCain campaign’s descent into nastiness has elicited strong rebukes from …

Kennebec Journal

O'Brien blasted on dual roles
AUGUSTA -- The Maine Democratic Party filed a complaint with the ethics commission Tuesday that alleges a conflict of interest regarding an expenditure made by the Maine Republican Party to support House candidate and GOP Executive Director Julie O'Brien of Augusta.

Pingree, Summers spar about economy
Fixing the flailing economy was the hot topic in Tuesday's televised debate between the candidates in Maine's 1st Congressional District race.

Collins cites creation of jobs as top priority
NORRIDGEWOCK -- Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins said Tuesday that bringing jobs back to America is the key to a secure future as the nation and the state gear up for an historic election Nov. 4.

States team up vs. mercury
Officials in Maine and six other Northeastern states are hoping a never-before-used provision of the Clean Water Act will force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to control mercury emissions from power plants outside the region.

Snow, but little accumulation, gives area a preview of winter
The leaves are still changing color, Halloween is just around the corner and weather forecasters are predicting snow.

ATTENDANCE UNDER SCRUTINY
U.S. Rep. Tom Allen angrily defended his attendance record in Congress on Tuesday, accusing his Republican opponent in the U.S. Senate race, incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, of offending his family in a series of campaign advertisements that focus on Allen's missed votes.

Allen cites 'change' themes
WATERVILLE -- He might be down in the polls with a week to go, but Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen sees a path to victory in the Maine U.S. Senate race.

31/2 years for grandma who stole almost $1M from family business
AUGUSTA -- A Waterville grandmother will serve 3 1/2 years behind bars for embezzling almost $1 million from her family's business.

Panel: MaineHousing improperly nixed aid
AUGUSTA -- Failing to keep a clean, orderly house should not cost a disabled woman her public housing voucher, the Maine Human Rights Commission concluded Monday.

POLICE
AUGUSTA -- A Kennebec County jail inmate remained hospitalized Tuesday after swallowing pencils in an apparent suicide attempt.

Editorials:

Feds are too secretive about use of our $700B
We supported the $700 billion rescue program passed by Congress in early October. The idea behind it was to inject money into the financial system, which has been reeling from the toxic debt taken on by lenders in the subprime mortgage market.

New thinking about roads doesn't mean we should abandon them
The best transportation policy for Maine would be more efficient vehicles, cheaper fuel and less costly methods of construction and maintenance of roads and bridges.

Sun Journal
Allen lashes out at Collins over missed-votes TV ads
PORTLAND (AP) - Democrat Tom Allen lashed out Tuesday against Republican Susan Collins over campaign ads pointing out that he missed 157 votes in the House, calling them "petty, ugly and personal attacks." Collins said she stood by the ads.

Mainers favor Obama, Collins, according to poll
PORTLAND (AP) - A new poll suggests a 19-point lead for Barack Obama over John McCain in the presidential race in Maine, while Republican Sen. Susan Collins maintains a 17-point lead over her Democratic challenger, Rep. Tom Allen.

Voters ban election signs from traffic island

Editorial
Where does the invisible buck stop?
After Alan Greenspan testified before Congress recently, a question crossed our minds: In this failing economy, caused by a dearth of actual currency and a wealth of imaginary credit, where does the (real or invisible) buck stop?

Mugging claim provides a paradigm of paranoia
It smelled worse than rotting garbage in triple digit heat, but I'm not surprised some folks swallowed it anyway.

MPBN

Sex Offender Registry Revisions May Be Delayed

The Maine's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee's planned revisions to the state's controversial sex offender registry law may have to wait until Maine's highest court rules on several appeals. Earlier this year, the committee attempted to correct a retroactive amendment to the law that would remove the names of those who had committed crimes between 1982 and 1992. Gov. John Baldacci vetoed the bill and asked the panel to take another look at the issue next year. But as A.J. Higgins reports, by then, Maine may not have a sex offender registry law on the books.

Allen Defends Voting Record

Under attack by his opponent for his attendance record in Congress, Democratic Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Allen held an unusual news conference at his home with his ailing wife and his daughter today. Although Allen attempted to point out that he has taken thousands of votes in Congress and only missed several dozen during his career, there were also more questions raised about his missed votes by the Collins campaign. Susan Sharon has more.

Ad Execs Say Obama Masters Web Campaigning

Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz talks with Sam Surprise of Surprise Advertising and Brenda Garrand of Garrand and Company about the success the Democratic Presidential candidate has had raising money on the web and how the technique will change both political and commercial advertising.