By SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer Friday, June 01, 2007

enlarge Staff photo by Jeff Pouland

Rep. Tom Allen, D-1st District, shakes hands with Dave Easton of Oakland at the Waterville Farmers' Market while campaigning for the U.S. Senate on Thursday afternoon.

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Last month, Allen, a Portland Democrat, announced he will challenge Collins, a Caribou Republican, for the Senate seat in November 2008.

"A choice between two good people, experienced people, who are running for the United States Senate shouldn't be bad for any state or any democracy," he said.

Allen spent an hour with editors at the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel to lay out his reasons for making a Senate bid. On May 9, Allen announced his campaign on his Web site, followed by a tour through the state this week that took him to Fort Kent, Bangor, Ellsworth and other places.

Although people are concerned about the war in Iraq and health care, Allen said he's hearing a lot about gas prices.

"The last four days I've been traveling around, gas prices are at the top of the list," he said. "For people who are on the edge financially anyway, that is a major problem."

Allen, who's served 10 years in the House, said he hopes voters will compare his record on Iraq, energy policy, health care and tax cuts with Collins record on those same issues. Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996.

With both having served in Washington, it will be easy to compare their votes on the issues, he said.

Allen said the race, which has been pegged as a top-tier national contest, will draw money from outside sources that neither he nor Collins can control. He estimated that millions of dollars will be spent on the race, though he didn't think it would be "tens of millions."

Although he's critical of the Bush administration, Allen said efforts to try to impeach the president and vice president are not worth pursuing.

Earlier this week, a group of Maine residents presented 11,000 signatures to the Maine Legislature in hopes that it would pass a resolution asking Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I understand the frustration," he said. "But you only have so much time and resources in the Congress."

Allen said health care -- how to make it accessible and affordable -- should be the top domestic issue in Washington. And he believes the United States must set a deadline for pulling out of Iraq.

Differences on the economy and the war will likely be the two major topics of the campaign, he said.

"I don't want to campaign on labels," he said. "We have a record on both sides now. We ought to be talking about that record and what we think is right for the future."

Susan Cover -- 623-1056

scover@centralmaine.com