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BY MATTHEW STONE
Staff Writer 07/03/2008

BY MATTHEW STONE

Staff Writer

A political novice mounting an independent U.S. Senate candidacy is beginning to gain name recognition. And he has an opponent's party to thank.

As the Maine Democratic Party pursues a Superior Court appeal to challenge Herbert Hoffman's Senate candidacy, the party is raising the profile of a little known candidate who could draw votes away from Democrat U.S. Rep. Tom Allen in November.

When Hoffman initially qualified as an independent challenger in the Senate race pitting Allen against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the retired Ogunquit psychologist was largely new to political circles.

Then, Maine Democratic Party Chairman John Knutson's decision to challenge the validity of Hoffman's nominating petitions with Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap generated a buzz.

"Certainly I've been the beneficiary of a considerable amount of media attention which otherwise I would not have had," Hoffman said Wednesday.

Dunlap rejected Knutson's challenge, and the Democratic party on Monday appealed the Secretary of State's decision to Superior Court, where a ruling is expected by July 14.

The Secretary of State invalidated 74 of Hoffman's 4,112 signatures, but party officials say the need to invalidate those signatures puts in doubt the validity of other names Hoffman and petition circulators collected.

"While we agree with the Secretary of State and his invalidating these signatures, he erred in terms of the law and just came to the wrong conclusion," party spokeswoman Rebecca Pollard said.

Hoffman said he expected the party's emphasis on stopping his candidacy to aid his campaign fundraising efforts. He has yet to file his first finance reports with the Federal Election Commission, which would show the results of that fundraising. Those are due July 15.

Hoffman is a former Democrat who recently advised a Statehouse candidate, worked as a senior staff member on the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and ran for seats on the Ogunquit Board of Selectmen and Charter Review Commission, according to a biography on his campaign Web site.

Pollard said the party is not concerned about raising Hoffman's profile as officials question his candidacy's validity.

"Because of the potential for this race to be so close, we clearly thought we had to go forward with the appeal," she said. "There are rules and processes to get on the ballot for a reason."

A Rasmussen Reports survey in mid-June showed Collins leading Allen, 49 percent to 42 percent, with a 4-percent margin of error. This was the first poll to show Collins dropping below the 50 percent mark.

Although the party is drawing attention to Hoffman, the attention could be coming too early in the campaign season to have any affect on the outcome, said Mark Brewer, a political scientist at the University of Maine in Orono.

"It's mostly an inside-baseball story at this point," he said.

Voters this campaign season will likely first tune into the presidential race and later shift attention to Congressional elections, Brewer said.

"It really is serving to crowd out all of these Congressional elections," he said of the presidential campaign.

Brewer said the Democrats' choice to pursue the challenge to Hoffman's candidacy makes sense politically.

"In my opinion, there's nothing to be lost on their part from pursuing this appeal," he said, "and potentially there's a significant gain."

Carol Andrews, a spokeswoman for Allen's Senate campaign, characterized the Superior Court appeal as an issue concerning the party, and not the campaign.

"Whether (Hoffman) is on the ballot is really of no consequence to the Allen campaign as we move forward," she said. "Would we rather him not be in the race? Sure. We've asked him to join us."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com

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