AUGUSTA – The Maine Republican Party today is celebrating this week’s start of the second half of Maine’s Legislative session by unwrapping the recycled rhetoric Maine Democrats presented yesterday like a late-arriving Christmas gift to the Maine press and voters of Maine.
“State Senate Democrats presented us with a wonderful gift yesterday,” said Maine GOP Chairman Richard Bennett. “Senate Democrats are once again presenting Republicans the opportunity to continue advancing our substantive reform agenda by offering nothing but the same tired talking points for us to run against.”
The Senate Democrat campaign kick-off, which was designed to give the appearance of a strong effort to reclaim the Maine Senate for Democrats, featured four Male and zero Female candidates, all of whom are running in strong Republican districts.
Making the hype around the kick-off even more confounding was the fact that three of the four candidates speaking are either Augusta insiders, or previous candidates.
Further, statements by the candidates showed just how weak the Democrat communications strategy is:
Rep. Jeff McCabe claimed the Senate District he is running in is a ‘swing district’ – but it isn’t. Governor LePage won this Senate District by 26 points and Senator Collins won this Senate District by 51 points.
Rock Alley, the only press conference attendee who is new to a state election, offered nothing but the same trite talking points attacking the ‘top 1%’ and the ‘rich and powerful’ from a written speech.
Jonathan Fulford, who is running for the Waldo County Senate seat he was defeated for in 2014, repeated the ‘work hard and play by the rules’ mantra used by liberal elites since the 1990s to convince people that tax-hiking, pro-welfare state Democrats are looking out for working people.
In fact, in any of the districts represented by the four men at the Democrat press conference yesterday, one would be hard pressed to find a solid pick-up opportunity, as all four were carried by Governor LePage and Senator Susan Collins.
“There is no better way we would like to see Democrats try to reclaim the State Senate than with such an out-of-step liberal message in Republican districts,” said Mr. Bennett.
“Despite their losses at the ballot box in 2014 after 40 years of leadership failure, they still are trotting out the same high-tax, big-government, pro-welfare-state liberalism that takes the money of hard-working Maine people and gives it to their special interest cronies and able-bodied adults who choose not to work,” concluded Mr. Bennett.
