Look at this map. It shows the results of the 2010 gubernatorial election in Maine. The red counties are those won by Republican Paul LePage. The green are those won by independent Eliot Cutler. There are no blue counties, because Democrat Elizabeth Mitchell didn't win one.

Angus King's decision to run as an independent may re-create it in Maine's Senate race this fall. When Olympia Snowe announced her retirement from the senate, Democrats rejoiced because they automatically assumed the seat was theirs to lose. They should moderate their expectations.

As Sean Trende noted last week, politically, Maine is not the most predictable state. Southern and coastal Maine (and the St. John Valley) tend to be Democratic. Northern, central and western Maine tend to trend center-right. In order to win statewide, a Democrat needs to rack up huge margins in southern and coastal Maine (the state's population centers) to overcome the center-right advantage in the rural vote. If the Democrats nominate Chellie Pingree, she and King would split the vote in those counties, opening the door to a potential GOP win.

Pingree is more liberal than the average Maine voter outside of her district, which makes her vulnerable to a challenge from the center-left King. So far, Republicans William Schneider and Charlie Summers have both declared their intention to run for the seat. Both are relatively moderate candidates who could get more support than LePage did in Pingree's district, weakening her and King's overall electoral position.

This is, of course, a presidential election year so turnout will be heavier than normal. However, Mainers are not party-line voters so I could see the state going for Obama while splitting the Senate vote between a liberal Democrat and an independent, allowing a moderate Republican to win a plurality. Remember, this is the state that gave Barack Obama 57% of the vote in 2008 while at the same time giving Susan Collins 61%.

I hope Democrats didn't spend too much on the victory champagne, because this race just got interesting.

Oh, Maine politics. Always something fun.

Why do you ask?

Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state’s caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account.

However, Webster insisted that the errors did not change the outcome.

On Saturday, he had declared former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney the winner of Maine’s Presidential Preference Poll by fewer than 200 votes, even though not all municipalities had reported results.

“There were clerical errors that did not significantly change the numbers. There were several smaller towns that were left out, the reporting was wrong. … We’ve corrected those clerical errors and will send those numbers out [soon],” said Webster in an interview with POLITICO.

The inept handling of this process brings up a good question: isn't it time to get rid of caucuses?

When you’re dealing with caucuses versus primaries, the impact can be more easily seen. A caucus that’s held starting at 7pm on a weeknight in the middle of winter is obviously going to draw far fewer voters than a primary where the polls are open for twelve to thirteen hours a day and where voters have an opportunity to vote absentee if they aren’t going to be able to make it to the polls on primary day (as Ed Morrissey recently discovered in Minnesota, there is no such thing as absentee voting in a caucus). Turnout for a primary is often low to begin with, but turnout for a caucus is even worse. Many people don’t have the time to spend two or three hours on a work night sitting in a school gymnasium, firehouse, or meeting hall going through the often tedious process that ends with the (non-binding) straw poll that the cable news networks breathlessly report as the results of the caucus. This is especially true for people who work late, or have children.

I've seen these "what I do" pictures around the web and they amuse me. So I created one.

The Ron Paul campaign had tried to lower expectations somewhat Saturday, alleging that the Romney campaign had been involved in some tricky business, and predicting that the results would be very close.

In particular, a senior Paul aide had suggested that the Romney campaign was involved in the cancellation of a caucus where Paul’s campaign had expected to do well. “It’s not completely insidious, but they knew we were going to swamp it up there,” said Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton.

The state GOP said that the caucus was cancelled due to inclement weather.

For the record, I didn't participate in the caucus. The results are non-binding. When the Maine GOP decides to make itself relevant and move to an actual primary that awards delegates, I'll re-register as a Republican and cast a vote. Until then? Meh.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Frustrated with a lack of response from the Attorney General’s Office, Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, presented new information Tuesday he says supports claims that Treasurer Bruce Poliquin has violated the state Constitution by engaging in commerce.

That said, Jason Pierre Paul was robbed. He was the MVP of that game.

Maine Democrats: NUH-UH! OH, AND YOU'RE PRACTICING CAPITALISM OR SOMETHING!

The head of the Housing Authority really has no answers for the spending, high profile Democrats are fighting legislation that would make the organization more accountable. This comes just after the former head of the Maine Turnpike Authority pleaded guilty to felony theft.

And the Democrats answer this by going after the treasurer, who is doing nothing more than his job - making sure taxpayer resources are being spent appropriately. You've got to wonder why they're putting up such a smokescreen.

No actual votes and the results are nonbinding.

If anyone wonders why I left the party, look no further than this. The GOP leadership in Maine decided that an insignificant gabfest was preferable to an actual primary. If I were still a Republican, I would quite literally have no say in choosing my party's nominee.

Great job, Stupid Party!

Cote de Porc a la Charcutiere
from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook)

1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs butter
4 rib chops of pork (approx 10 oz each)
salt & pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp wondra flour or all purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup dark, strong chicken or veal stock
2 tbs dijon mustard
10 cornichons, thinly sliced
1 sprig of flat parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 375. in an oven safe saute pan, heat oil, then butter. Season the chops with salt and pepper, then sear in the hot pan for about 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for another 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the chops. Set them aside on a platter, loosely covered with foil, while you make the sauce.

Return the saute pan to the heat, add the onion. Cook until golden brown. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for one minute. Stir in the wine and reduce by half, scraping. Add the stock. Reduce the liquid by half. Remove the pan from heat and whisk in the mustard. Add the cornichons, the parsley, and any nice juice that has run off the cooked chops. Adjust the seasoning. Arrange pork chops on platter and pour over sauce.

The pork chops are fantastic (especially if you cook them to the new temperature standards), but the sauce is the real winner here. Amazing.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Rep. Chellie Pingree told Gov. Paul LePage during a private meeting on Tuesday that it was unlikely that any federal Medicaid waivers would be granted to allow some of the health care cuts he has proposed.

After a 45-minute meeting between the two in the governor’s office, Pingree spoke briefly to reporters.

“The governor and I had a very honest conversation about what a tough problem he and the Legislature has,” she said. “I continue to disagree with him on the issue of Medicaid waivers … I don’t know that the federal government at this point is going to say to Maine, it is OK to put people back out on the street with no health care coverage.”

Actually, Pingree does have a solution in mind.

Pingree was asked whether she offered the governor any alternatives.

“I said one thing the governor can do is go back to companies like Wal-Mart that actually educate their workers to qualify for Medicaid as opposed to giving better coverage to their own workers,” Pingree said. “One of the reasons many people have turned to Medicaid is because the cost of paying for health care through your job have gone up and employers are giving less and less. For many of the big chains, they could do more of their share.”

Also, I've actually worked for Wal-Mart. They never told me to qualify for government assistance. Just saying.

Again.

After only a couple of primaries, Republicans have a choice between three politicians who have embraced big government solutions in the past, and Ron Paul. After much thought, I've finally decided which candidate I can wholeheartedly support.

This candidate has my unconditional support.

Dear RNC Leaders,

Here we are again.

Four years ago, the GOP primaries began and I was a big supporter of Rudy Giuliani. He did poorly in Iowa, then New Hampshire and in South Carolina. His loss in Florida ended his campaign and I had to consider an alternative candidate. I think Giuliani could have beat Barack Obama in the general election. Unfortunately, voters in four states decided that he would never have the chance at such a campaign.

Four states.

Every time a state other than those tries to move their primary to a place where it would have some relevance, the RNC punishes that state by stripping it of delegates, or taking away convention perks. The party has shown its commitment to the current system time and again, and frankly, I'm sick of it.

This year, after voters in two states cast their ballots, five candidates dropped out: Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman. We are in another election cycle where I am once again denied the chance to vote for my preferred candidate. Thanks to a stupid, out-of-date primary system, the candidate I would have chosen has already been eliminated by a handful of voters.

Cycle after cycle, voters in two states are given more power than the rest of us. The current system is antiquated, unfair and frankly, idiotic. And it needs to end. I'm sick of it, and I'm probably not the only one.

Tomorrow, I'm going to walk to City Hall. I'm going to change my party affiliation from 'Republican' to 'None.' I will not give any money to the GOP nominee, nor will I volunteer any time. None of those left is fully acceptable to me, so they will have my vote and nothing else.

Change the process, and you have a chance at winning me back. If you keep courting the spoiled brats in New Hampshire and Iowa, you will lose me and those like me forever.

Choose Wisely,

Slublog

Paul LePage probably is fond of the cliche, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” We can infer as much from his first State of the State address Tuesday night.

And stuff.

For the record, the governor used that word exactly twice. I counted.

Then, there's this - the BDN fact-checks the speech.

Here's the weird thing. I checked two newspaper archive databases with the search terms "Baldacci state of state fact check" and got no results back from either search. It's almost as though they're treating the Republican governor differently than the Democrat. Funny, that.