Cynthia Dill is hands down the best candidate for the U.S. Senate. She is a candidate that we can be very proud of.

She tells it like it is. There is no funny business. She believes in Maine. She is strong, she will fight for the interests of Maine every day. She understands our issues, the need for fiscal responsibility, the need for more jobs, the need for clean air, the need to keep our environment healthy while pursuing the jobs we need right now.

We have the oldest population in the country. We need to make Maine the place where our kids want to stay and others want to come because Maine is the way life should be!

Cynthia Dill understands that. She is anxious to get to work to improve the economy right here, to improve our education right here, to expand health care right here.

She is willing and able to take on special interest groups to protect all of our rights — after all, she is a civil rights attorney. Boy, are we lucky!

She is a Democrat, she went through a tough primary against extremely qualified opponents and she won by a large margin. She has proven herself and she deserves the vote of every Democrat in this state.

Remember on Nov. 6! Cynthia Dill is our candidate and deserves our support and our vote.

Ellen Harris-Howard

Lebanon

The Republican campaign being waged against Angus King by out-of-state money is a new low in Maine politics. The ads regarding wind power are blatantly false, and others are misleading or just plain nasty.

I was in the Maine Legislature before many of today’s voters were even born, and I have never seen anything like this. If Charlie Summers had an ounce of integrity, he would denounce this deceptive advertising.

Evidently, in this campaign anything goes — even dishonesty. I hope that Maine voters will not be influenced by these outrageous and specious attacks on Angus.

Kathleen Watson Goodwin

Brunswick

Several years ago, Angus King met with a small group of us in the cultural and humanities profession to talk about how creativity, innovation and critical thinking are essential ingredients to building better places to live in Maine. He referred specifically to the central role of the creative economy and quality of place in development.

What I appreciated was hearing a successful entrepreneur and former governor underscore that many diverse elements in our society contribute to fostering prosperity. It wasn’t lip service; King gets it. This speaks to his campaign positions on caring for the environment, stewarding Maine’s sense of place and identity, and promoting our inherent assets.

King spans boundaries. He has the ability to see the bigger picture, know how to use its differing elements and remain anchored to the practical. That’s why I’ll be voting for him in November.

Sheila Jans

Madawaska

Charlie Summers has my vote for U.S. Senate because he gives his constituents the time of day. He thinks on the issues and communicates his sound solutions.

I met Cynthia Dill last summer at a festival. I told her my concern about funding programs that have little to no effect. The neediest in these programs are forgotten.

I remember knowing of a homeless man who was noncommunicative and who had been beaten badly in Portland. My job in social services was to find jobs for adults. They instead continued hanging around playing games and going on field trips!

I’m tired of funding those types of programs, and I’m crushed that these programs don’t see that beaten-up homeless person sitting in a corner! Charlie understands that the neediest need help. And he understands that there are wasteful programs.

When I spoke to Dill concerning this, she continued texting into her cellphone and replied, “That is why I’m running for U.S. Senate, and it’s nice to meet you.”

Dill gives no solutions, which shows she has never thought of the issue to begin with. Does she hope to lead us?

Summers visited my worksite and introduced himself while I worked the night shift. He knows the problems, has solutions and is ready to act!

I trust him most because he served our country in the military, he loves our state and country. He respects people and takes the time to talk with us. Stand behind him and stop listening to the talk that says nothing and can’t be backed by action!

No more funding toward ineffective programs. We need jobs that taxpayers are not paying for! Programs need a plan of action for each person who is served. No more fun and games! Let’s get to work!

Linda Anthony

Lisbon

I’m supporting Angus King for senator and wanted to tell you why.

I got to know Angus up close when the tanker Julie N hit the bridge in Portland in 1996, spilling 250,000 gallons of oil. I was responsible for coordinating the state’s response with the federal government and the spiller. Prior to that, I had never met or spoken with Gov. King.

That day and in subsequent dealings with Angus, I was deeply impressed with what an extraordinary individual he is. He wants to see for himself what is happening, he asks good questions of those directly involved, and he quickly gets it.

He treats people with respect, at the same time letting you know he has high expectations. He is easy to talk to and goes out of his way to say “thank you” to those on the front lines who are doing good work, regardless of their station.

What impressed me most that first day was once he had assured himself we were doing the best we could with a difficult situation, he went before the press and said so. It would have been politically safer to wait to see how the press and public reacted, but he didn’t. Angus made up his own mind and said what he thought. That is what I call leadership.

I served 34 years in state government, and Angus was in my opinion by far the best governor we had during those years. It was a real pleasure and honor to serve under him.

Whoever we elect to the Senate is going to have to help move the Senate to make difficult decisions that will affect all of our lives and the future of this country. I can think of no better person to do that for us than Angus King.

David Sait

Readfield

With the recent “reforms” in political fundraising, I am reminded that in simpler times, many parts of our country had a tradition of paying citizens to vote for a candidate or initiative.

Based on the findings of the Supreme Court, the actions of our political parties and most of our candidates, vote buying just might be the solution to our current economic crisis. Experts project $8 billion will be spent on all campaigns this fall.

Oh, I know buying and selling votes is illegal and immoral and a betrayal of the democratic model that we hold dear, but do the math:

$8,000,000,000 divided by 131,032,799 (votes in 2008) = $61.05 per vote (with a low turnout, we could all make more). Heck, only pay the swing voters in swing states, and you are talking real money.

Years ago, votes were going for the cost of a beer or, more recently, $20. If the super PACs and parties cut out the middlemen and pay voters directly, this could serve as a new model for allowing the 1 percent to assist the 99 percent.

True, there is a downside: citizens giving up the rights that hundreds of thousands have died for, a revision to the Constitution … The thing about advertising is that it works. If you spend money to promote a product, it will sell, particularly if you don’t have to prove the truth of what you are saying about your product or your competitor’s.

If your vote isn’t for sale, look for candidates that haven’t drunk from the PAC and super PAC well. The pickings are slim with candidates Cynthia Dill and Charlie Summers both using super PAC funds, but Gov. Angus King is not indebted to any moneymen from away and he will be getting my vote.

Mark Carignan

North Yarmouth

I read with interest in the Politics 2012 section of the Sept. 24 Maine Sunday Telegram that negative ads, which are flooding our airwaves in Maine, are indeed landing punches.

And to make matters worse, the majority of these commercials are not funded by the candidates’ campaigns, but rather by huge, faceless PACs based in Washington.

How dumb do they think we Mainers are? A nasty bunch of ads, for instance, denigrating independent Senate candidate Angus King is being churned out mostly by two huge special interest groups that are clearly terrified that Angus may win Olympia Snowe’s coveted Senate seat.

The first group is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (a supposedly apolitical nonprofit organization that, take note, pays no taxes). The other is the National Republican Senatorial Committee (and we are clear where their interests lie).

Then there are the even stranger TV commercials that purport to heap praise on Democratic candidate Cynthia Dill, while dismissing King as a has-been and backward-thinking pol.

It turns out those oddities are funded by something called Maine Freedom — a misnomer if ever there was one. In fact, the shadowy group was created specifically to dump King and is, you guessed it, a huge PAC based in D.C.

A big election year always generates what the pundits call “silly season.” But this year (and I am not even touching the presidential campaign, where Republican super PACs are pouring unspeakable amounts of money into nasty ads attempting to dump Obama), I would go further and call these days running up to the Nov. 6 election the “sinister season.”

Let’s start with Maine and show these faceless PACs that we see through them. Mainers, take heart. As President Lincoln famously said, “You can’t fool all the people all the time.”

Avery Meyers

West Bath

I urge all liberal Mainers to remember Angus King’s tenure as governor and not vote for him for the U.S. Senate.

King is no friend of Maine’s sportsmen and sportswomen. King is no friend of Maine’s environment. King is no friend of Maine’s wildlife.

King cares about his wallet and his business interests. He is big business.

King fought Endangered Species Act listing for the Atlantic salmon. He led the charge to drive the salmon to extinction by opposing listing while favoring the aquaculture industry. If King had his way, the only Atlantic salmon in Maine would be those living in net pens.

Millions of federal dollars have come into Maine and will continue to come into Maine as the salmon recovery effort continues — no thanks to Angus King. Ultimately, millions more dollars will be spent in Maine by salmon anglers after populations recover — no thanks to Angus King.

As governor, he signed a proclamation for Wolf Awareness Week and then rescinded the proclamation.

King has no political courage. King has no new ideas. He has promoted the destruction of Maine’s environment for his own personal financial gain and has no grasp of the concept that Maine’s environment is Maine’s economy.

Angus King is the past. Maine needs to learn from the past and move forward. There is no better opportunity than this election.

John M. Glowa Sr.

South China

I find it ironic that, despite the avalanche of political ads on television, no one, not the candidate, not the National Republican Senatorial Committee, not Crossroads, not the U.S. Chamber, no one, has even mentioned Charlie Summers. Apparently the Republicans feel that the less said about their candidate the better.

Michael Cuddy

Falmouth