A Little Comment(ary)...

A 'refreshing,' 'gun-totin' look at what makes Palin fans tick
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

DOVER, N.H. — They've heard, even from deep within the Republican Party, that she is unqualified to be vice president. They've watched her polling numbers plummet after she stumbled through three, and only three, unscripted television interviews. They've heard the nation howl week after week as Tina Fey turns her into a national laughingstock on "Saturday Night Live."

Yet there they stood outside Dover High School, waiting by the hundreds -- maybe even thousands -- to cheer on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as she kicked off a campaign swing through New Hampshire and Maine. She'll be in Bangor today.

How do these things happen? Why would the prospect of seeing Palin in person compel these people, many from southern Maine, to arrive here before the school buses and stand in line for a rally that wouldn't start until 11 a.m.? What is it they see that so many others across the political spectrum don't?

Good questions. Come along while we ask them.

Meet Connie Moulton, who left Kittery at 7:15 a.m. with her friends, Bruce and Gay Lakin, to get a good place in line. Yes, they said, they're aware that things aren't looking too good for the McCain-Palin ticket with less than three weeks to go before Election Day. But they're not worried.

"I don't believe the polls," Moulton said flatly.

"I don't believe the polls either," agreed Gay Lakin.

Why not?

"The polls have been going after Democrats and they've been going after Independents leaning in the other direction," said Gay Lakin.

"And they keep people away from voting," said Moulton. "Because people think, 'What's the use of casting a vote if (Obama) is so far ahead?' "

Moulton finds Palin "refreshing. She's not the same old Washington elite that's in there. I feel she's honest. She's a family woman."

Lakin agreed with that, too. But what's really on her mind at the moment is a lawsuit filed by Philadelphia lawyer Philip Berg alleging that Barack Obama's birth certificate from Hawaii is fake and that Obama was actually born in Kenya and is thus ineligible to be president.

"Look it up -- go to YouTube and you'll find it," Lakin said. "They've hushed it up. I'd like to know whether it's true, false or indifferent. Where's the birth certificate?"

Standing by his wife's side, Bruce Lakin just smiled.

"I think it's great that a country girl's running for V.P.," he said. "I think it's super. I'm here to support Sarah."

Meet Judy Roberts of Lebanon, Maine. She went on a cruise to Alaska in August and heard all kinds of good things about Palin during the trip.

"I thought, 'Wow! This is what we need!' " Roberts said.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=216226&ac=PHnws


The Associated Press

Here's your chance to fill in the blanks
By JEANNINE GUTTMAN
Portland Press Herald

Do you have a question you'd like to ask Democrat Tom Allen or Republican Susan Collins, the two people running for Maine's U.S. Senate seat?

As a resident of Maine, is there a particular issue you'd like to hear both candidates address before casting your ballot on Nov. 4?

We're hoping the answer to both questions is "yes." In fact, we designed our upcoming U.S. Senate debate with voters' voices in mind.

Tuesday is your chance to pose questions to Allen and Collins at a noontime debate hosted by media partners WMTW Channel 8, this newspaper and our two sister Blethen Maine Newspapers.

Here's how to get your voice heard:

You can attend the Tuesday debate at noon at the University of Southern Maine's Hannaford Lecture Hall and submit a question in writing to the candidates. Or you can submit a question via e-mail starting Monday by going to www.pressherald.com. On Tuesday, if you cannot attend the debate in person, you can watch it unfold live on Channel 8 or via the Channel 8 Web site.

Our newspaper Web site, www.pressherald.com , will have a link to the Channel 8 video feed.

We'll replicate this format in two weeks with the 1st congressional district debate on Oct. 28, featuring Democrat Chellie Pingree and Republican Charlie Summers.

I asked Andrew Russell, our assistant managing editor for news, to talk about the scope and mission of the debates.

"Maine's Senate race is one of the most closely watched races in the country, and for the first time in 12 years we have an open seat in the 1st Congressional District.

"As the state's largest media outlet, we believe it's important to help lead the debate and the discussion on the biggest issues of the day," Russell said. "Right now, nothing is bigger than the election, and with the problems in the economy taking center stage, voters have a lot to sort through before making their choices on Nov. 4.

"Hopefully these debates will make it easier for voters to make those choices by giving them deeper insight into the candidates and their positions."

Said Channel 8 News Director George Matz: "We are proud to be teaming up with the Portland Press-Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram to bring viewers and Web users this truly interactive debate. We expect to have some very unique and informative questions" posed to the two candidates.

The goal, said Matz, is for the debate to "go beyond the sound bites and political commercials so that viewers and Web users can get a more accurate viewpoint on what each candidate brings to the table."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=215169&ac=Insight

J.P. DEVINE: The blue eyed boy
BY J.P. DEVINE
Freelance Writer Morning Sentinel

The first leaves of autumn have finally covered the fresh earth on actor Paul Newman's grave and all the remembrances have been printed. So, finally, I can enter my own and a few words given to me by actors, now all dead, who worked with Paul.

My one and only encounter with Newman was a memorable one for a young actor. I was lucky to land a job managing a posh movie theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, back in 1968. All the furnishings were from the fabulous Hearst Castle. There was no tacky candy or popcorn bar, just Alice, a coffee lady in an evening gown, serving espresso. Haut cinema.

We were screening the debut of Mel Brooks' popular and original "The Producers." It was an enormous hit, and our theater, a Walter Reade theater, was awarded the only print in Los Angeles.

Consequently, we were mobbed at each showing, and it ran for a year. Every star in Hollywood wanted to see it. It was not uncommon to come into the lobby and find Michael Caine sipping espresso with Warren Beatty and singer Mel Torme.

Then, after a few months, when things settled down, we ran a Sunday matinee. I was checking the books when my one usher came into the office and said there was a husband and wife at the door, wanting to know if they could bring in their own popcorn.

I got up and went to the door to explain to them that we didn't allow refreshments into the theater.

There, standing on our expensive Oriental carpet, dressed casually in jeans, and holding a huge bag of popcorn, were Joanne and Paul Newman. They were waiting for my permission to bring in their own popcorn.

Paul smiled and sheepishly held the bag out without saying a word.

Knowing I wasn't going to turn him down, I took some. It was good stuff.

I let them in, free of charge. It was the least I could do for all Paul had given all of us.

Paul loathed the daily life of Hollywood, the "rubbish," he called it, of the business. One of my friends who worked with him in "Cool Hand Luke" later told me, "He always warned us about falling into the 'material success' because it came so easily in Hollywood. Being a celebrity annoyed him."

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5509553.html

Here's one for the good guys
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

Little guys have been taking it on the chin a lot these days. Here's a story about one who hit back.

His name is Victor Bernier. When we last met him in this column 19 months ago, he'd just filed a lawsuit alleging that Robert F. Hanson Jr. of Windham, doing business as RKD Real Estate, had fraudulently snatched Bernier's modest house on Maine Street in Brunswick right out from under him.

Bernier, 47, suffers from myotonic dystrophy, a neurological disease that not only affects how his muscles work, but also limits his brain's ability to communicate and process information. He can carry on a conversation, but even a few minutes with him makes it clear that he has trouble grasping many of life's more complicated challenges.

Things like big financial transactions. And mortgages. And people who say they're trying to help him when in fact they're doing something quite different.

According to the complaint filed last year in Cumberland County Superior Court by Martica Douglas, Bernier's attorney, Hanson is one of those people.

It all started back in 2006 when Bernier found himself in a financial pickle. His mother, with whom he'd lived all his adult life, had died the previous year – leaving Bernier the bungalow and small lot on which it sits.

But there were two mortgages on the property totaling just $15,313. And because Bernier had trouble keeping his bills straight – he lives on Social Security disability payments totaling $635 per month – he now found himself facing foreclosure.

That's when Bernier got a letter from Hanson offering to help make it all go away. Two sit-downs later, Hanson owned the house – not for the $124,300 the town assessor said it was worth, but for the $15,313 it took to pay off the mortgages.

And Bernier, who insists to this day that Hanson promised he could live there for free as long as he wanted, was told after the property changed hands that he'd have to pay $250-per-month rent. After he fell behind on those payments early in 2007, according to the complaint, he found himself facing eviction.

"I didn't really know what was going on," Bernier said at the time, adding that he thought Hanson was "going to help me."

Earlier this year, Hanson and his attorneys, George Marcus and Lee Bals, tried to get the lawsuit tossed. They failed.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=216682&ac=PHnws

Collins gets October surprise
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

She's been around politics long enough to know that this is the time in a campaign when you're most apt to get blindsided.

But not even Sen. Susan Collins could have predicted that, with just two weeks to go before Election Day, she'd be in a highly publicized spat with ... Sen. John McCain?

"These kinds of tactics don't work in Maine," Kevin Kelley, Collins' spokesman, said Monday, referring to the McCain campaign's "robo-calls" that have caused a furor in several states, including Maine, since late last week.

The calls, dialed automatically to households all over the state, contain a 28-second message claiming that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama "has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans."

Of course, as most voters know by now, the GOP has yet to produce any evidence showing that Obama and Ayers were more than casual acquaintances when their paths crossed in the early 1990s.

And as the Associated Press pointed out over the weekend, the aforementioned bombings by Ayers' Weather Underground 35 years ago caused no fatalities. (Nor, the AP reported, did the group ever claim responsibility for the attack on the judge's home.)

But back to Collins. According to Kelley, she first heard about the calls Friday afternoon – around the same time the Maine Democratic Party called on her to resign as Maine co-chair of McCain's campaign.

The Dems also called on Collins to seek the resignation of Mark Ellis, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, for a mailer the state party put out last week – again linking Obama and Ayers as "close friends."

Friday evening, Collins made national headlines by denouncing the robo-calls and urging McCain to stop them "immediately." (She never mentioned the GOP mailer, which Kelley said she has not seen.)

McCain responded in repeated interviews over the weekend that he has no intention of reining in his robos. With Monday's Gallup daily tracking poll putting him 11 points behind Obama, the man who once promised he'd never, ever use robo-calls apparently now sees them as a potent weapon of last resort.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=217159&ac=PHnws

Casino plan a real lemon for Mainers
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

I've been having this recurring daydream lately.

I'm in a used-car lot, checking out a just-like-new roadster festooned with all the bells and whistles you could ever imagine.

And Louie the Salesman is hard at work.

"This baby's got you written all over it," Louie says, flashing a gold-tooth smile. "Buy it now and I promise, you'll be thanking me the rest of your life."

I reach out and touch the shiny side mirror. It falls off.

"Uh-oh," I say.

Louie darts down, grabs the mirror and jimmies it back into place.

"Not to worry," he says. "Gimme a check right now and we'll fix that immediately."

I walk around the back. That's when I notice there's no rear window.

"Louie?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah, that," he says. "It came to us that way. Listen kid, we'll fix that, too. Just sign right here and it's as good as done."

I ask Louie to pop the hood. The engine, and everything around it, is coated with black, oily goop.

"Looks like something's leaking in here," I say.

"Maybe, maybe not," Louie says, reaching to quickly close the hood. "But I'll tell you what -- if there is a leak, and I'm not saying there is, we'll replace the whole engine. Trust me, my friend, it'll purr like a kitten!"

I kick a tire. First, the expensive hubcap falls off. Then, without warning, the entire wheel collapses.

"You've got to be kidding me," I mutter, turning to leave.

"No, wait!" Louie hollers behind me. "It's all fixable stuff, I swear! Don't walk away from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! And remember, you're not just helping yourself if you buy this beauty, you're helping the whole economy! Don't go! I'm hear to HELP you!"

Back to reality.

On Nov. 4, The Olympia Group of Las Vegas wants you, Maine voter, to buy a proposed statute that, just like Louie's roadster, has a few "minor" problems.

For starters, the law would allow patrons as young as 19 to gamble in The Olympia Group's shiny new casino in Oxford County.

But don't worry, they tell us. As soon as you pass the law, they'll fix that.

Speaking of young people, the minimum age for working in the casino would be 18.

But relax, they're going to fix that, too.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=217451&ac=PHnws

Need some help reading the ballot?
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

Most people who fail to cast a ballot on Election Day will tell you they were too busy, or they hate politics, or they didn't think their one vote would make a difference.

Well here's another explanation – and not one you're apt to hear that often:

"I wanted to vote – but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to read the ballot."

It's no joke. According to Literacy Volunteers of Maine, 150,000 adults in Maine lack the ability to read a ballot. And another 250,000, while able to read it, don't fully comprehend what it says.

"This is a very important election," said Sarah Robinson, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Maine. "And we wanted to make sure it's an even playing field and everyone can vote."

Introducing Maine's first "Easy to Read Voter Guide," a 20-page primer on all things electoral – ranging from how to register and vote to who's running for major office and what those three referendums on the Nov. 4 ballot are all about.

Published this month by Literacy Volunteers of Maine and the League of Women Voters of Maine, the guide lays out the entire voting process at a fifth-grade reading level.

Sounds simple? It wasn't – especially for volunteer Michelle Small of Brunswick, who transformed the referendums on the beverage tax repeal, the proposed casino in Oxford County and a $3.4 million state bond issue into language most anyone can understand.

"I'd never worked on anything like this before," said Small, a lawyer. "It's not how I usually write."

In addition to explaining the three questions, the guide presents simple "for" and "against" arguments on each.

(Perhaps too simple in the case of the casino initiative: One "argument for it" says "39 percent of the income will be given to Maine charities." In fact, the bulk of that money would go to state programs and services.)

The guide also contains bare-bones profiles of candidates for president and Congress, including brief "personal statements" and "goals" submitted by all but two. (Presidential hopeful Ralph Nader and Maine 2nd Congressional District Republican challenger John Frary did not respond.)

Republican John McCain's first goal: "Reform: Washington is broken – I intend to fix it."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=218018&ac=PHnws

Mainers, 'Don't Miss' this debate
By JEANNINE GUTTMAN
Portland Press Herald

On air. Online. In person. In paper.

Once again.

Today's column is an invitation to attend our second election debate, this time focusing on the 1st Congressional District featuring Republican Charlie Summers and Democrat Chellie Pingree.

The one-hour debate will begin promptly at noon Tuesday. Location: Hannaford Lecture Hall at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Once again, we are partnering with our sister newspapers in Central Maine – the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel – and with Channel 8, WMTW, which will broadcast portions of the debate live during the noon hour.

The moderator of the debate will be WMTW anchor Jon Camp.

The debate is tailored to get as much input as possible from Maine citizens. To that end, we will be accepting e-mail questions to the candidates, starting today and continuing through the debate. You can send a question to us at www.pressherald.com; go to the "Don't Miss" section of the home page for details.

Voters also are encouraged to attend in person and to submit questions at the forum. Other questions will be posed by a panel of reporters from the newspapers and from Channel 8.

Two weeks ago, we held a U.S. Senate debate in the same venue, at the same lunchtime hour, and it was a major success, said George Matz, Channel 8 news director.

"Following the success of the senatorial debate, News 8 is proud to present the second of our debates this year," said Matz. "News 8 looks forward to a spirited exchange of ideas between the candidates, and hopes the public will gain valuable insight on their platforms, to help voters make an informed choice."

Added Andrew Russell, our assistant managing editor for local news: "We had a great turnout for the U.S. Senate debate – about 300 people. We're hoping for a similar turnout for Tuesday."

From our newspaper, reporter Justin Ellis will again be part of the panel asking questions of the candidates. "On the surface it may look easy, but it takes hours of preparation and consideration of what issues are really important to Mainers right now," Ellis said.

"It's a bizarre and amazing feeling to be taking part in something like a political debate. I think about myself as just a guy doing a job, but here I am on stage asking questions to the people who want to represent Maine" in Congress.

"When you think about that, and how people may be watching to help make up their minds, it's a pretty big deal," he said. "I've been following the 1st District race for a few months now and I think voters are curious to watch this last debate to see how Summers and Pingree really set themselves apart."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=217801&ac=Insight

This time, House 102 race isn't even close
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

They say that good things come to those who wait. Michael Shaw of Standish could not agree more wholeheartedly.

Two years ago around this time, Shaw found himself in a bit of a dilemma. He'd just been sworn in, provisionally, as the Democratic state representative in Maine's House District 102 – only to learn soon after that his entry into politics wasn't exactly a done deal.

A recount of his race against Republican Rep. Gary Moore showed Moore with six more votes than Shaw.

Then, the counters found another glitch: 15 voters from a neighboring district had mistakenly received ballots for District 102 on Election Day. Since those ballots couldn't be identified and culled out, it appeared that the only way to fairly settle the matter would be to hold the election over again.

That's when Shaw, figuring that 90 percent of the people who voted in the first election wouldn't show up for the do-over, decided it would be better to drop out than to render all those original votes meaningless.

"I figured I could just wait a couple years," he said after knocking on doors Sunday. "And then I'd beat the pants off him next time."

Well, next time is now. And lo and behold, the rematch is already over.

Moore, whose 44 percent roll-call percentage places him fifth from the bottom among House members in the 123rd Maine Legislature, quietly announced last month that he's out of the race – even though it was too late to get his name off the ballot.

"I didn't have the drive to actually want to do it again," Moore said in a recent interview. "It was an evolving thought that came to fruition later than it should have, I guess, or later than it could have."

In other words, just when Shaw began revving up for another shot at the State House, his opponent ran out of gas.

Shaw, 36, works as a train conductor on the Downeaster between Portland and Boston.

He said he has kept close track of the Legislature in the past two years by talking to folks in his district and reading the newspapers during his breaks in Boston.

He supports the Dirigo Health plan, but thinks lawmakers made a big mistake when they passed the 11th-hour beverage tax last spring to fund the program.

"I'd have looked to the Fund for a Healthy Maine" to tide Dirigo over for a year while a more politically palatable fix was hammered out, he said.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=218560&ac=PHnws

Ghost seekers hoping to raise spirits
By BILL NEMITZ
Portland Press Herald

First, the disclaimer. As far as Tony Lewis is concerned, the only difference between Halloween and any other day is that candy manufacturers and costume makers make a lot of money selling all things spooky.

Now, the claim. Lewis, co-founder of Maine Ghost Hunters, fervently believes that we're surrounded by spirits -- some good, some not so good -- 365 days a year.

"There's just so much about science and physics and nature that we just don't know," Lewis said this week. "Things that can be only explained as paranormal."

By day, Lewis, 40, works as the vice president for information technology operations at Management Research Group in Portland. Ah, but by night ...

He started Maine Ghost Hunters about a year ago after he and his wife, Kathy McKechnie, decided to probe more deeply into their mutual fascination with the paranormal. Their three-member "investigation team" also includes David Hopkins, whose job as the designated "sensitive" is to serve as the connection between the physical world and the wherever.

They accept no money for their investigations of houses, cemeteries or other locations that may (or may not) be haunted. People seeking their services apply via their Web site, www.maineghosthunters.org.

It's a high-tech operation. So far, Lewis said, the team has spent about $3,000 on digital video equipment complete with night vision, ultra-sensitive audio recorders, still cameras and even a gizmo called a "ghost box," which continually scans radio frequencies in search of fragmentary signals from the spiritual realm.

"Sounds pretty far-fetched, doesn't it?" asked Lewis.

In a word, yes. But proceed.

Three weeks ago, Lewis said, he and his wife visited Grove Cemetery on Pleasant Hill Road in Freeport -- the first time either had ever set foot on the place -- and flipped on the ghost box. "Who is here?" they asked several times.

Eventually, Lewis said, they heard the words "James," then "Small," then "Jimmy," then "seven," then "fourteen" come through the radio chatter.

"What (the spirits) want you to hear, you hear clear as day," Lewis said.

They also heard what sounded like directions ("forward right forward"). Within minutes, Lewis said, they found themselves standing over the family plot of one "James Small."

"And there was a small stone out on the perimeter that said 'Jimmy"' Lewis said. "He died in 1907 -- at the age of 14."

Did that, how shall we say, freak them out?

"It totally freaked us out," Lewis replied.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=218951&ac=PHnws