The following diary was posted by Chellie Pingree on Turn Maine Blue. Since Markos considers Chellie persona non grata on dKos (or at least won't leave her diaries alone), I will place her diary from TMB below the fold. Head there if you have comments.

Cross-posted at Turn Maine Blue

In what may be a first, the Christian Civic League has suspended its signature gathering campaign. The attempted referendum would have repealed the gay rights legislation upheld in 2006. In addition, it would have prevented a same-sex couple from adopting children, prohibited the state from recognizing a same-sex marriage or civil union from another state, and cut funding for the Attorney General's civil rights teams.

The PPH/MaineToday.com has a brief blurb on it here.

I just put myself into debt today. I bought my plane ticket to Denver. Of course, I'm going there as part of Turn Maine Blue. I was originally planning to join the delegates, and maybe crash on the floor or something.

Yesterday, the delegates were informed that if anyone but the two delegates is sleeping in the room, both the guest as well as the delegates will be thrown out. So much for the "go with Rita" plan. So now, time for plan B. Begging. :p

And I'm not ashamed to pitch myself, either: remember that time when that blogger predicted Obama would win Maine 60-40? And everyone didn't believe him? Yeah. That was me. Don't you want that expert analysis in Denver? Yeah, I thought so.

Donation link and more below the fold.

Crossposted, slightly modified, at Turn Maine Blue.

Below the fold for my report, as it is huge. My report differs from Gerald's from TMB, as I was at the Convention for other reasons- first, as the Vice-Chair of Kennebec, and second, as Rita Moran's campaign manager for her DNC campaign. So you can get a different perspective, and I hope you enjoy.

One thing that must go on the front page, however, and will be repeated for posterity:

Betty Johnson, the Chair of Credentials, is AWESOME.

I have made Sam Spencer, DNC Member (and superdelegate!) from Maine aware of the stakes of this race. Please stay tuned for an important public service announcement:

Two days ago, I cast my votes in the Senate and 1st District primaries. While everyone knows I support Tom Ledue, I had a long period of time in which I pondered which candidate to vote for to replace Tom Allen in Congress.

Everyone also knows I have been an "equal opportunity destroyer" in the race. I have praised candidates for that which they've done well, and hammered at candidates for that which they've done poorly.

In the end, I was willing to support five of the six candidates (see Adam Cote and BIPAC for why it's only five) in the race. I still believe all five of those candidates would do a wonderful job as our representative in Congress, and will work my heart out for whichever of them wins the primary.

That said, I could only vote for one, and it was Senator Ethan Strimling.

I'm working on drafting a platform document for the Maine Progressive Caucus of the Democratic State Committee to stand on. This is not a document of issues, but one of principles and beliefs, something that the voters at the State Convention can read and know what we believe- what we'll do as elected members.

This is not a traditional news reporting diary- instead, it is one seeking the opinions of the readership. What would you like to see your State Committee stand for?

I've already had some questions about the "stand as one voice" section. So when you get to that, this is the meaning behind it. If something receives a supermajority vote, one would hope that if we are good progressive Democrats, that it will not be anything that you couldn't stand for. You may disagree, but you could support it without it affecting your conscience. And someday, it will be your turn to be in the majority and your friend's to not.

The belief behind this is that of wishing the majorities we have in the House and Senate were enough, and communicating that we are different- that we will stand together, where Democrats so often fracture.

I hope some of you will join me for a discussion. Below the fold is what I have thus far. It definitely needs more preamble.

(I know this is a local story... but it's also nationally relevant. I'd gladly take recs. Thanks!)

I've received no less than five e-mails about the matter, and more phone calls than that. Will I tell you what happened? Sure, but I'm not going to be the one whining and crying about it. Rita Moran will not be attempting to contest the DNC election in the same manner as Jennifer DeChant did. It's over. She has the seat, and eventually, someone has to be the bigger person. That bigger person is Rita, and that's why I admire her so much.

Am I outraged? You bet I am. And I hope you are too. The progressives, long a minority of the State Committee, faced off against the old guard, the conservatives, the Clintonites, and a smattering of others who joined up for various reasons. The progressives stayed united, but our numbers were too small... and we lost.

So what next?

(Crossposted at Turn Maine Blue)

This is not an endorsement. It is, however, right for me to do.

Some time ago you will recall a diary written by me in which I slammed our incoming "mystery candidate" because I was fairly sure he would not announce a campaign in Estcourt Station (pop. 4). While I was right about that (he was in Fort Kent, however), and I do stand by my poking fun at Bob Doak's hyperbole (and my name is not Markowitz, dang it!)... I also said the candidate would be a "real winner".

And I could have never been more wrong.

I've just returned from over 15 hours jaunting around Maine. Out the door by 5:30 AM, back home at 9:00 PM. I have spent the day traveling to Orono and Bangor, in my official capacity, checking out the Hillary town hall at UMaine, and the Obama rally at the Bangor Auditorium.

I will give you the down and dirty play-by-play, and some of that editorializing that you have come to expect from me. Some big pics, 640x480, so patience if you're on dialup!

(Some of the images here are courtesy of Debbie in ME. Thanks, Debbie!)

(Update: ...whoa. Does it bode well for my predictions of the state if I also predicted this would be my first reclist diary? Thanks, gang!)

Now the only thing we Mainers have to fear is the weather. Snow may drive down record turnouts for the 2008 Maine Democratic Caucuses.

The Obama Effect is reaching Maine, and it is certainly having an impact on our turnout. To be fair, Hillary is also increasing our counts... but nothing like Obama is.

I am probably the last Chris Dodd holdout on DailyKos. Maybe anywhere. And I'm sure that many were curious why. Two people from Dodd's campaign, one of which is Matt Browner Hamlin, knew at least part of the story behind my quixotic campaign to be the second Dodd delegate elected nationwide.

I will share with you the story of why I engaged in this campaign, and why I now can truly support Barack Obama. Flip for more, if you want to hear the tale. It's a bit back and forth, and a bit of a ramble... mostly because it's hard to put it all in chronological order and make it make sense. But some are curious, and I'd like to share this with you all.

Well... now's your chance. We here in Maine have a bit of a choice to make, and our DNC Woman wants your opinion. So if you have an opinion about how superdelegates should vote, then come below the fold and make your choice heard.

Consider this an opportunity to make your vote count WAY more than it would otherwise...

Or so this guy says. Did I get your attention with the title? Good.

I get (crazy) e-mail:

> To: (Kennebec County Democratic Committee officers- e-mails removed)
> Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:08:35 -0500
> Subject: HillaryClintonFarts.com
> From: (redacted- see below)
>
> Check out the commentary on HillaryClintonFarts.com
>
> Thank you.

Go on. You KNOW you want to look. Flip for more fun, when you get back from that disgusting hellhole. Or just flip and see what happened, and THEN go look. Or just don't look. Whatever, go read!

A fairly old saying, that is. And I got reminded of something today by DemFromCT, when he referred to good old John Rowland, former Republican governor of Connecticut, who's spending some time in a prison cell as of late. Started thinking back to when I was younger, but still apparently politically astute.

And I ask myself, today, what the kids are thinking about our presidential campaigns. You aren't going to find any links below the fold. I'm fond of writing editorials, and they're just usually too big for a comment. So if you're fond of reading opinions, and personal stories, come on over.

I will keep this brief:

I just got an e-mail from the Dodd campaign asking that we contribute to his campaign to retire his debt. Content of the e-mail is in the body of the diary.

So if you feel that his work on FISA was worth something, even if not your vote, please contribute to the campaign and retire his debt.

Coming from one of those weird people who will still caucus for Dodd on Feb. 10th... thanks. I really appreciate those who help Senator Dodd get out from under the debt he ended up with in order to fight for our civil liberties.

(I won't be ashamed to ask for recs, either. If you supported the Senator's work, please rec this up so others see it, and see what they can do to help.)

Rita Moran, Kennebec County Democratic Committee chair, was elected to the Democratic National Committee in a squeaker of a vote at the State Committee meeting held in Augusta today.

As DNC Committeewoman, she represents one of our four votes at the national level. There is quite the amazing story to be told about this woman, and about the process that got her elected... please join me below the fold.

The only Maine chapter of Drinking Liberally (run by Kennebec County Democrats, yay!) will be holding a Super Duper Mega Tsunami Tuesday party on February 5th at 7:00 till whenever we feel like leaving at a location to be determined in Kennebec County (probably Augusta or Waterville). This is a free event to attend, just bring money for grub and booze!