Steve Abbott, described “as the man behind the curtain” for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, said Friday he hasn’t decided whether he will enter the race for the 1st Congressional District seat.

“When I say I’m undecided, I truly am,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m not trying to be coy. It’s a lot to think about.”

The “Senator from Handsometown” aka Sen. Ethan Strimling, joins a crowded field of Democrats who hope to represent their party in the race for the 1st District Congressional seat.

(Strimling, of Portland, got the “handsometown” moniker a couple of years ago when he appeared in a story on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”)

Anyway, during a stop in Augusta on his first day as an official candidate, Strimling hopped out of a giant white charter bus covered with hip campaign slogans:

“Ethan is the man.”

“Ethan Strimling: Always Fighting 4 Maine People!”

After a brief introduction by Dale McCormick — Strimling served as her campaign manager when she ran for Congress and lost — Strimling gave an off-the-cuff synopsis of the campaign speech he gave in Portland during his official announcement.

About 15 people gathered in KeyBank Plaza shortly before he arrived, and about 30 got off the bus with him, holding "Ethan Strimling for Congress" signs.

“Maybe I’ll just keep exploring I’m having so much fun,” he said, taking a jab at critics who complained it took him too long to officially enter the race.

The 39-year-old chief executive of Portland West, which works with at-risk youth, must convince Democrats he’s better than Chellie Pingree, Michael Brennan, Adam Cote and Mark Lawrence.

They have until the June primary to duke it out.

Sen. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, describes the group of Dems “as a very far left field,” and said it would be a mistake to assume Strimling is the most liberal of them all. He’s hoping Steve Abbott, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, joins the race for the Republicans.

As of right now, the Republican field includes Charlie Summers of Scarborough and Dean Scontras of Eliot.

“We have to have a moderate candidate in that district,” Mills said.

Finally, someone is launching a campaign on one of the five questions that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Passamaquoddy tribal leaders and Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, announced Wednesday that the Yes on Question 1 campaign is beginning. Question 1 asks voters to give the tribe the ability to open a racino — a race track with slots — on land in Calais.

It’s a bit early to be speculating about the next gubernatorial election, which won’t be held until November 2010.

But one of the people rumored to be considering a run — Cianbro President Peter Vigue — happened to be in the Statehouse Tuesday.

So I asked him about it.

Sen. Jonathan Courtney — a Springvale Republican — is urging fellow Republicans to take up health care as a major issue in the 2008 elections.

Courtney, who announced he is not running for the 1st Congressional District seat, is a three term state lawmaker who has worked on tax reform and business issues.

At the end of his “I’m not running ” statement, Courtney challenges the Republicans who do run to get moving on health care.

Democrats running for the 1st Congressional District seat got a reminder Thursday that you never know what people in the audience are going to ask.

Just after they gave their opening remarks to Kennebec County Democrats, but before they had really warmed up their voices, Ellis McKeen of West Gardiner threw this question at them:

“If you were in the voting booth today, who would you vote for for president?”

Rudy and Barack are coming to Maine.

Have you bought your tickets yet?

The two presidential hopefuls — Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani and Democrat Barack Obama — are both hosting fund-raisers in southern Maine in the coming days.

If your summer reading list is growing thin, or you’re having trouble falling asleep at night, you may want to check out the online summary of all the bills considered and laws passed this year.

Many of the new laws passed will take effect on Thursday cause it’s been 90 days since the Legislature adjourned.

Republicans and Democrats will meet this week to choose their nominees for the House District 83 seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Deane Jones, D-Mount Vernon.

Both parties have lost capable representatives from this seat in the last five months.

Ever wonder if your lawmaker is actually coming to Augusta?

All the roll call percentages of Maine House members are now posted online.

A quick scan of the five-page document shows that most reps show up to vote
more than 90 percent of the time. The roll call percentages aren’t
necessarily an indication of whether a lawmaker is in the building; they
are simply a measure of how many times a representative voted on roll
calls.

Welcome to a new blog that will explore Maine politics, and possibly touch on national politics from time to time as well.
It’s an interesting time in Maine. Even though we are technically approaching an off year election, there are five open Maine House of Representatives seats, and we’ll all be asked to weigh in on five ballot questions in November.