Maine: the politics I love

One thing I am extremely proud of is that the state of Maine has been slightly different (and I might argue ahead of the game) in many aspects of national politics. Here are some of my views and how Maine is making progress in those areas:

I think it is disappointing that there aren't more female members in government positions. There are currently only 16 female senators and Maine is one of only 3 states where both senators are females (California and Washington are the other two). Maine is also one of only two states to have 3 females senators in the course of its history (Louisiana the other)

I think it is valuable to have bipartisan candidates (or at least be a state willing to elect respectable members of any party). Both of Maine's senators are republicans, both representatives are democrats and Angus King (an independent) was one of only two governors during his 8 year tenure who was not affiliated with the democrats or the republicans (link). The other was Jesse Ventura, reform party governor of Minnesota.

Snowe and Collins are also some of the most centrist and influential senators (link). Both were also listed last year as 8 of the top female candidates for the 2008 presidency (link). Snowe was voted one of the top 10 senators in 2006 by Time and is the most popular senator in her own state.

I have particular problems (like many do) with the electoral college system to elect our presidents. This winner take all method can sometimes not reflect the will of the people (see 2000 election). Maine, along with Nebraska, is allowed to split its delegates with the state winner getting 2 and the winner of each congressional district getting its delegate. Its far from perfect but, in my opinion, its better.

In terms of primaries vs. caucuses for party nominations I think they both have their pros and cons. Primaries avoid the outright coercion and voter intimidation that happens in caucuses and also is not as time sensitive (polls can be open all day whereas caucuses happen in a specific one to three hour time frame) and very often there is no option for absentee ballots. I think the caucuses do well in that they allow people to voice support for fringe candidates to make a statement while still having their vote matter among the major candidates if their first choice candidate is not viable. Maine, like several other states, has a caucus WITH absentee ballots. I think this is a step in the right direction. Ideally I think we should go (both in primaries and in general elections) to a run off election by ballot. This means that every person would rank the candidates in the elections they are voting for. If no one receives 50% of the vote we take the bottom candidate and reallocate all of those votes to the second choice candidates on the ballot. We keep eliminating the bottom candidate and reallocating votes until one candidate has at least 50% of the vote and declare that candidate the winner. (Note: I can't take credit for this idea. It was proposed to me by a friend years ago but is such a superb idea I've adopted it).

The last story I'll leave you with from Maine politics is more about a personal choice by a politician than a state policy but I still believe it shows the character of Maine politics. I find the superdelegate system fairly archaic and undemocratic in many ways because it is possible for democratic officials to outweigh popular votes (ie the will of the people). In times like this I have to admire men like the chair of the maine democratic party who pledged to cast his superdelegate vote for whichever candidate won Maine's caucus.

I know politics and elections have a long way to go to be ideal (or even truly democratic) but I'm proud that my homestate of Maine is bucking trends and leading the way in many ways and I hope it continues to challenge the way that politics work.