Press release from the Collins for Senator campaign:

TOM ALLEN VOTES (AGAIN) TO JEOPARDIZE THE SAFETY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE

Congressman Tom Allen chose politics over the safety and security of the American people by voting Friday with a small minority against a bipartisan compromise that would modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. FISA is one of the most important tools in the war against terror, allowing our nation's intelligence community to conduct lawful surveillance of suspected terrorists. FISA has helped our intelligence agencies protect our country, and our military troops in the field, by granting these agencies the authority to intercept terrorist plots. The compromise bill provides our intelligence agencies with the tools they need to help protect against possible terrorist attacks, while protecting civil liberties.

"Tom Allen had a chance to help protect our nation's safety and security. Unfortunately, he caved in to the pressure of partisan special interest groups and voted to deny our intelligence community the necessary resources to continue monitoring foreign-based, terrorist communications," said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for Collins for Senator.

WHAT TOM ALLEN'S DEMOCRATIC COLLEAGUES ARE SAYING ABOUT FISA LEGISLATION:

• SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE NANCY PELOSI (D-CA) "Our troops in the field depend on timely and reliable information." "Good intelligence is necessary for us to know the plans of the terrorists." "This bill does not allow warrantless surveillance of Americans."
• HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER STENY HOYER (D-MD) "This bipartisan bill balances the needs of our intelligence community with Americans' civil liberties, and provides critical new oversight and accountability requirements," said Hoyer. "It is the result of compromise, and like any compromise is not perfect, but I believe it strikes a sound balance. Furthermore, we have ensured that Congress can revisit these issues because the legislation will sunset at the end of 2012."
• HOUSE ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN IKE SKELTON (D-MO) "This bipartisan compromise strikes the right balance between providing our intelligence community with the tools they need to find and fight terrorists and protecting our constitutional rights."
• SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV) "At its core this historic, bipartisan agreement to modernize FISA is about providing an essential tool in the fight against terrorism. It meets our dual obligations to make our Nation safe and restore the privacy protections and civil liberties Americans require."

Scott Fish at AsMaineGoes.com released the results of an extensive reader demographic survey, to shed some insight into his audience:

Who’s Reading AsMaineGoes.com?

“I had been wanting to survey AsMaineGoes.com (AMG) visitors for years. For one reason or another I had to wait. In May 2008 there were no more obstacles,” said Scott K Fish, owner/editor of AsMaineGoes.com - arguably Maine’s most popular political website.

Maine's blog world continues to grow. Here are a couple great new blogs I've come across lately:

• ME-01- The race for Maine's 1st Congressional District
  This site gives some clear, concise statistical analysis of the CD1 race, something that is much needed in general up here. The post about Pingree's funding sources was especially good:A Closer Look at Chellie Pingree's Fundraising
• Lucky Cambridge's Maine Point
  This site is a riot. Cambridge has a real unique voice, and his analysis of the CD1 race so far has been poignant and funny. Here's an example, from a post about the CD1 candidate commercials:

  Chellie Pingree is sticking with what didn’t work in 2002 - the “I’m pissed off because somebody hit me in the forehead with a hatchet” gig. Girded with plenty of campaign cash, the Pingree camp contracts with high-level media production therefore using a camera slightly more sophisticated than a Brennan cell phone. Even though it’s evident that Cote’s 14-year-old niece had the day off from doing make-up, no amount of filler or base can hide that cleft sitting smack-dab in the middle of Chellie’s squash. One thing comes across - She’s still pissed off.

  Maine Point May 26- Commercials

An important message from the Maine Republican Party.
(Side note: Gerald at TurnMaineBlue was kind enough to post this on his site today. I think it's really encouraging to see people putting party politics aside for such a serious issue. Thanks Gerald.)

Dear Friend:

By now, you have probably heard that William Guerrette and his 10-year-old daughter, Nicole, were critically injured in a brutal attack at their home in Pittston last week. As part of the Republican family, Will served Maine in the Maine Legislature in the early 1990s.

Our Executive Director, Julie Ann O'Brien, has been in contact with the Guerrettes' church to discover what we can do to assist Will and his family during this difficult time. Julie learned that there will be a blood drive on Saturday, June 7th, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 4 Hasson Street, in Farmingdale from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

TheAtlantic.com's Marc Ambinder published "The first in an occasional series of posts ranking the competitive Senate races."

Ranked by competitiveness, Maine's race was listed dead last:

Mainers don’t seem to be in the mood to kick out Sen. Susan Collins; it’s a stretch to label her a “Bush Republican,” as Democrat Rep. Tom Allen is finding out.

from Tony Payne at the Alliance for Maine's Future:

First Congressional District Democratic & Republican Primaries
It is difficult not to notice that four of the six candidates for Congress in the Democratic primary are former state legislators. Each of the four have taken leadership roles in making Maine one of the least economically successful states in the nation. According to the Maine Economic Research Institute's (MERI) ratings, none of the four ever exceeded a rating of 24 out of a possible score of 100.

A DC group has launched a campaign to educate voters about "card check", known as the Employee Free Choice Act- UnionFacts.com.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a bill that labor unions are working to make into federal law in 2009. It would rewrite the rules of union organizing to get rid of employee private-ballot voting.

The group has already started running ads here in Maine,here are a couple of the ads from their site, to give you an idea of general theme:

Our campaign website won TechMaine's 'Best of the Web' award for the Corporate Image category the other night, here's the press release:

COLLINS FOR SENATOR CAMPAIGN WEBSITE TAKES TOP HONORS AT TECHMAINE AWARDS

www.susancollins.com Wins First Prize in Corporate Image Category

Portland, ME – Portland’s Eastland Hotel was the scene last night for the annual TechMaine Technology Awards Gala. It was also the site of an on-line victory for the Collins for Senator campaign. The TechMaine awards honor excellence and accomplishment in the state’s technology sectors. TechMaine gives five awards in the area of technology and four under the heading of Best of the Web. All entrants were winnowed down to three finalists each in the categories of Corporate Image, Arts & Entertainment, Non-Profit, and E-Commerce.

www.susancollins.com won the Corporate Image category. The site was lawded for incorporating “great multi-media” and integrating “the top social networking sites, making it easy to contribute to the campaign”. Also cited for excellence was “a great blog from Susan Collins herself.”

The site is the work of Lance Dutson, the Collins for Senator Internet Communications Director and owner of Maine Coast Design, a Maine-based web marketing company.

“Considering the ever-increasing role of websites and the Internet in political and corporate life, I’m delighted that the effort we’ve put into a strong online presence was recognized in this manner,” said Senator Collins. “I commend Lance for the great work he’s doing in directing our on-line communications – and, of course, I urge everyone to visit us at www.susancollins.com .”

More about TechMaine (formerly MESDA) >>

The Washington Post's Chris Cilizza has downgraded the Maine senate race to #10 in a list of Senate sets likely to change hands this fall. Once regarded one of the most competitive races in the nation, the Allen- Collins matchup is now pretty universally regarded as a might-have-been for Democrats:

10. Maine: There is a simple fact dominating this race: voters like Sen. Susan Collins (R) and overwhelmingly approve of the job she has done in the Senate. Unlike some Republican incumbents working hard of late to distance themselves from President Bush, Collins has a long record of moderation. Rep. Tom Allen (D) is a good candidate and has a very solid team around him. But, it's hard to see why voters would fire Collins. (Previous ranking: 9)

from the AP, via Seacoast Online:

Several small business owners formally launched a referendum challenge aimed at repealing new taxes on sodas, beer and wine adopted with a goal of bolstering funding for Maine's Dirigo Health program.

The Fed Up With Taxes coalition says the tax increases were approved without any public hearing in the final days of the legislative session.