McCain Campaign is Moving to Maine
CAMPAIGN
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
10/02/08
WASHINGTON –John McCain’s campaign announced Thursday that it will move resources and staff to Maine to challenge Barack Obama in the Democrat-leaning state.
“We are opening up an aggressive front in Maine, where we have strong numbers and where they split their electoral votes,” Mike DuHaime, political director of the campaign, said in a conference call.
Maine, which has four electoral votes, splits those votes by districts. Nebraska is the only other state in that situation.
The announcement came as the campaign decided to scale back resources in Michigan and move them to other states, such as Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
DuHaime and Greg Strimple, a senior campaign adviser, included Maine in a number of states they say were “not safe in any direction.”
They said Maine was one of several states where centrist Democrats have been successful, while underscoring that Obama is not one of them.
“Obama is the most liberal senator,” DuHaime said. “So we feel very confident in these states.”
According to the Associated Press, the McCain campaign checked advertising rates in Maine this week.
Strimple said that the campaign had its best fund-raising month in September since last year and therefore was looking for a “very aggressive last 30 days.”
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