The three major candidates for governor will meet on the same stage for the first time Wednesday morning for a highly anticipated debate that may or may not affect the status of the race.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud are in a statistical tie, according to a recent poll done by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. While independent Eliot Cutler is a distant third in the polls, the Cape Elizabeth attorney has pinned his fortunes on debate performances.
Cutler hopes the debates will help him repeat the surge that vaulted him from a similar position to a close second in 2010. Michaud and LePage will take the stage at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland engaged in a contest that has remained neck-and-neck despite nearly $7 million in spending by outside groups that are attempting to influence the outcome.
More than 660 people have paid to attend the debate. Chris Hall, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, the host of the event, said Tuesday that it is the largest audience in the 30-year history of the business group’s Eggs and Issues series.
The debate, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., will be preceded by breakfast and introductions of corporate sponsors. It is the first of five speaking contests that all three candidates have agreed to attend.
The candidates’ participation itself has produced ample drama. Cutler cut a television ad this summer hammering LePage and Michaud for not engaging in earlier debates. Cutler questioned his rivals’ courage, but his critique had tactical value, too. The independent faces two significant hurdles: He’s self-financing much of his campaign, while trying to raise his profile as a candidate before the two parties carry out their campaigns to promote early absentee voting.
LePage, who abruptly withdrew from a candidates’ energy forum last month because of the seating arrangement, had threatened to pull out of the debates. He complained that a political action committee supporting Michaud had run television ads highlighting a press statement in which LePage likened Social Security to welfare. The statement was issued by the LePage administration, but the governor said the media mischaracterized his position. His re-election campaign has since engaged in an extensive effort to curb a backlash from older voters, a key demographic in an election that could be decided by voter turnout.
According to the Press Herald poll, over 54 percent of voters 50 and older have an unfavorable view of the governor. That was an increase from June, when 49 percent of the same age group had an unfavorable view of him.
Michaud was attacking LePage for the welfare comment as recently as Tuesday.
However, the Social Security flap may take a back seat Wednesday as the candidates debate before a business-friendly audience. Many political observers believe the race will refocus on jobs and the economy, after last week’s announcement that the Verso Paper mill in Bucksport will close in December, eliminating more than 500 jobs.
Wednesday’s debate will not be televised or live-streamed online. The Press Herald plans to post video from the event later in the morning.
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