Vassalboro voters manifest their independent streak

VASSALBORO -- Doug Grosso hasn't decided whom he will support in the governor's race this year, but it won't be either of the major candidates.

"I'm not going to vote for one of the regular parties," Grosso said as he worked on his Vassalboro home recently. "I need to find out more about the two ladies who are running."

Grosso, 52, isn't the only person in Vassalboro who is undecided about whom he will support for governor with less than four weeks to go until the Nov. 7 election.

Others who shopped at local convenience stores, stopped at one of the town's three post offices, or visited the library said they, too, didn't know which of the five candidates they would support.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. John Baldacci faces Republican Sen. Chandler Woodcock; Rep. Barbara Merrill, an independent; Green Independent Patricia LaMarche and independent Phillip Morris NaPier.

Grosso, who was an usher at Baldacci's inauguration, said the sitting governor isn't conservative enough for him.

"I don't dislike him intensely," he said. "I just tend to be a little more conservative."

As for Woodcock, Grosso said he is too closely aligned with President Bush. He said he liked independent Gov. Angus S. King Jr., and supports Republican U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.

Vassalboro, a bedroom community between Augusta and Winslow, is unique among Kennebec County towns for its close margin in the 2002 governor's race.

Four years ago, Baldacci edged out his closest competition in Vassalboro by a mere five votes. Baldacci got 726 votes, Republican Peter Cianchette got 721, Green Independent Jonathan Carter got 139 and independent John Michael got 41 votes.

In only one other Kennebec County town was the margin closer. In Clinton, Cianchette beat Baldacci by one vote, with Carter getting 80 votes and Michael 21.

Like many central Maine towns, Vassalboro once had a thriving mill as a major employer. But the American Woolen Co., which made blankets for the military, closed in 1955, according to the Vassalboro Historical Society.

Now most people in the town of 4,230 work elsewhere, with short commutes to Augusta to the south, or Winslow or Waterville to the north.

Morgan Titus, 27, said she recently moved back to Maine after completing medical school in Oregon. A doctor of naturopathic medicine, she opened an office in Vassalboro. She said education is important to her.

"I'm probably going to swing toward the Democrats, although I'm a member of the Green Party," she said.

Vassalboro had 60 percent voter turnout four years ago. The party breakdown is 35 percent unenrolled, 34 percent Democrat, 27 percent Republican, 4 percent Green Independent.

Timothy Giroux, 64, an upholsterer on Oak Grove Road, has run his business out of a workshop next to his home for 36 years. He switched from Republican to Democrat less than four years ago, but is still undecided about whom he will support.

"He's tried a lot of things," Giroux said. "I don't know if four years is enough for some of his ideas to be proven good or bad."

Two years ago, Vassalboro voters supported a Democrat, Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell, in the state Senate race, and a Republican, Rep. William Browne, in the state House.

Mitchell is a former House speaker who also serves on the Vassalboro Board of Selectmen. She said the town is in the middle of a strategic planning process.

Robert Browne, nephew of state Rep. William Browne, is a Republican who serves alongside Mitchell on the Board of Selectmen. He said he hasn't seen many political signs around town yet, and hasn't heard much discussion about the governor's race.

"The town for the most part has been evenly split or nonpartisan," he said. "We're a moderate, in the middle, type of community," Browne said.

Results on Election Day will show whether Vassalboro voters stay in the middle, or make a strong statement by backing one candidate over the rest.

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