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By KEVIN WACK
Blethen Maine Newspapers 01/28/2008

The last time Maine's 1st Congressional District had a contested Democratic primary was in 1996. About 50,000 people voted -- less than one-sixth the number of people who voted in the general election in the district.

The last time the district saw a contested Republican primary was two years later. Only about 32,000 people voted -- roughly one-seventh of the general election turnout.

This year, the 1st District race is a free-for-all, with six Democrats and two Republicans running for their parties' nominations. And again, a relatively small group of voters is expected to determine each party's nominee.

All of which may help explain why, in recent interviews, several candidates staked out positions that seem likely to appeal to their party's ideological base.

"The people who vote in primaries tend to be the most dedicated and zealous members of the party," said Oliver Woshinsky, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Southern Maine.

The 1st District race has been heating up since the start of the year, with the rival candidates announcing endorsements, participating in candidate forums, and issuing a flurry of press releases reacting to the news of the day.

The interviews, held this month, offer insight into how the candidates are distinguishing themselves from each other, and introducing themselves to voters.

On the Democratic side, the six candidates in the June 10 primary include four current or former state lawmakers -- Michael Brennan of Portland, Mark Lawrence of South Berwick, Chellie Pingree of North Haven and Ethan Strimling of Portland.

On certain issues, each of those four hopefuls is running to the left of Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, who is leaving his House seat to run for the U.S. Senate.

For example, Brennan, Pingree and Strimling all said they would support a single-payer health care system, in which everyone would be covered by publicly financed insurance.

Lawrence, Pingree and Strimling all said they support holding impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney, even though he will be out of office by the time the next Congress meets.

"This administration has committed many abuses," Strimling said in an interview. "We need to hold them accountable."

On the Iraq war, both Brennan and Pingree said they would vote to cut off funding, while Strimling and Lawrence said they do not support continued funding without a firm withdrawal deadline.

The other two Democratic candidates are running campaigns that seem likely to appeal more to moderate Democrats and independent voters, who will be allowed to enroll as Democrats on Primary Day.

Adam Cote, a lawyer and National Guardsman, and Steve Meister, a pediatrician, both joined the Democratic Party within the last two years.

Cote said in an interview that he changed his party registration from Democratic to Republican in 2000, then became a Democrat again in 2006. Meister registered as a Democrat last October, shortly before he announced his candidacy, but said that he previously considered himself an unregistered Democrat.

Neither of them support a single-payer health care system, impeachment hearings, or cutting off funds for the Iraq war.

"I think that if we were to pull the troops out immediately," Meister said, "we would leave a disaster."

Cote, an Iraq war veteran, is calling for a diplomatic push aimed at separating the warring Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions, decentralizing power, and withdrawing American troops. "The stability of the region is at stake," he said.

In the Republican race, Dean Scontras of Eliot is facing off against Charlie Summers of Scarborough.

On economic issues, both Scontras and Summers are adopting positions that seem likely to appeal to their party's conservative base.

Both favor making the Bush administration's tax cuts permanent, and both support allowing Americans to decide whether they want to set up private Social Security accounts.

There is more of a divergence between the two GOP candidates on certain social issues.

Summers, who is currently serving with the Navy in Iraq, is not allowed to campaign while on active duty.

But his wife, Ruth, said in an interview that her husband is pro-choice, and while he supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, he is OK with civil unions.

Scontras, a political newcomer, said that he favors a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, opposes civil unions for same-sex couples, and is anti-abortion.

"I find that there is a right to life in the Constitution," he said.

Marvin Druker, a public affairs professor at the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston-Auburn College, was not surprised that several of the candidates are using messages that will appeal to their parties' bases. He said that the most active people in both major parties tend to be at the more extreme ends of the ideological spectrum.

"They're trying to match up with where the voters are going to be," Druker said.

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