Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

July 18, 2012

Election 2012: Summers well-known, a 'better candidate' than in 2008

By Steve Mistler smistler@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

Sixth in a series profiling the candidates for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Maine Republican Olympia Snowe.

Charlie Summers looks the part.

Congressional demeanor. Congressional appearance.

And, by virtue of his political experience and past employment by U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, congressional connections.

Yet to this point Summers has no congressional experience. He has made three bids for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1st Congressional District.

The first run, in 1994, ended early after Summers finished second in the GOP primary. He was clobbered by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen in the 2004 general election, losing by 24 percentage points.

Summers tried again in 2008. The result was a 10-point loss. However, the Scarborough resident faced an opponent, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who spent nearly all of her $2.2 million war chest defeating him and her Democratic rivals during a six-way primary. Summers spent a little less than $645,000.

The day after the 2008 election, Summers gathered reporters at his Portland campaign headquarters. He was asked if he'd try again. Summers was noncommittal, but doubtful.

Nearly four years later, Summers is back on the campaign trail, this time to replace Snowe, his former boss whom he once credited with showing him the political ropes.

"I'm a much better candidate than I was four years ago," he said. "I feel like I'm a more rounded candidate."

Recent polling shows that Summers is among the best-known candidates in a Republican field of six, thanks in part to his previous campaigns and his current post as the Maine secretary of state.

He has embraced the nomenclature of GOP politics that helped sweep Republicans into power in Augusta less than two years ago.

President Obama's federal health care law must be repealed: "I don't think Americans want their health care provided by the same people who gave you the IRS," he said. Congress must address the country's "crushing national debt." America, he said recently, is spending its "way into oblivion."

During a recent forum in Aroostook County, Summers said the U.S. Constitution was a "divinely inspired document," a blueprint for American prosperity that shouldn't be twisted by contemporary interpretation.

He says government needs to get out of the way of business development; less regulation, not more.

"Is America ready to lean forward and lead again or are we going to face a future of constrained horizons?" he asked.

Summers' public profile would seem to make him a GOP frontrunner. However, most recent campaign finance disclosures show that his campaign was slow to get up and running.

His $21,280 put him second to last of the five GOP candidates that filed disclosures. The three Democrats in the race have raised more over the same period.

Summers is quick to point out that Snowe's sudden withdrawal from the race put Republicans at a disadvantage.

"Normally it takes two years to gear up for a campaign for the U.S. Senate," he said. "We had to do it in two weeks."

Despite serving as Snowe's state staff director from 1991 to 1994, Summers didn't receive any advance notice of her Feb. 28 retirement. He found out when the country did.

"I was going to pick up my little boy at day care, which was about 4:45 p.m.," he said. "All of a sudden my cellphone went (exploding sound). I sat there for about 30 minutes in the parking lot calling people, saying, 'What, is this true?' "

(Continued on page 2)

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