Walter Gooley of Farmington has served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives and currently holds the Senate seat in District 18. He's running for re-election; and Ann Woloson, a Democrat from Belgrade, is Gooley's challenger.

Gooley is an old-fashioned, Main Street kind of Republican, neither ideological nor particularly bold in his positions.

He readily admits that he had "more fun" in the House than he does now in the Senate. While he no doubt has helped many of his constituents, what the Statehouse needs now is change and Gooley is unlikely to be an agent for that.

That's why Ann Woloson is our choice for Senate District 18. Woloson is a lively, enthusiastic health policy expert who was at one time chief of staff for the Senate Democratic Majority Office.

Her agenda includes addressing the high cost of health care as well as building a bipartisan energy caucus. She's eager to tackle tax reform and is critical that earlier efforts to do so have failed.

Where Gooley would likely bring more of the same to the Senate if re-elected, Woloson seems likely to be a spark plug on the most critical issues facing the state: the high costs of energy and health care and our high tax burden.