Dems’ Death Star vs. Planet Cutler: The above six-second clip from "Star Wars" is the Democratic path to the Blaine House in 2014, according to a blogger on the liberal website Daily Kos. 

Specifically, the Death Star is the Maine Democratic Party and its national affiliates. The doomed planet of Alderaan is presumably independent candidate Eliot Cutler. 

According to Daily Kos, “Democratic internal polls show a path to victory that involves blasting Cutler into Alderaan-sized chunks.” The post notes that Cutler divides the vote in a three-way race with a Democratic candidate and Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

However, the posts notes, "Cutler’s never witnessed the firepower of the fully armed and operational battle station that a (Democratic Governors Association)-backed (Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud) bid would represent, and I’d be willing to bet that Democratic internal polls show a path to victory that involves blasting Cutler into Alderaan-sized chunks. May the Force be with you, Mike Michaud."

Cutler, in a recent email to supporters, notes the blogger’s proposed Democratic strategy  – even referencing Alderaan.

From the email:

"Here they go again!

Haven’t we seen this before? It looks like the Maine Democratic Party hasn’t learned a thing from two straight statewide drubbings.  They’ve just dusted off their 2010 playbook . . .  the one that had them calling me a ”spoiler” (even though we came within a percent and a half of winning), the guy who would put oil wells in the Gulf of Maine, send jobs overseas and force Maine kids to learn Chinese? The tasteless fortune cookie mailing? Remember that script?"

The email goes on to echo similar statements made by U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, during last summer’s campaign. It references Democratic Governors Association chairman and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who launched the first salvo against Cutler last week. 

"What happened last week tells us that the parties and their special interest allies will again pour millions of dollars from anonymous contributors into negative ads and mailings in 2014.  Tearing down other people must be the only way they think they can win anymore."  

Woods’ vision: So far only one Democratic candidate has announced that he’s running for governor in 2014, Steve Woods. 

Woods, a Yarmouth town councilor, is a longshot to secure the nomination, but he definitely has some fresh ideas. One, according to the Bangor Daily News, is to shutter "100 small Maine towns and redirect their state dollars — and potentially their residents — toward more urban centers."

This vision isn’t just controversial (the Maine Republican Party has already pounced on Woods via Twitter), but it sounds a bit like the prophecy of those who believe that Agenda 21 is being carried out by government agencies.

Agenda 21 is the non-binding resolution that was passed by the United Nations in 1992, a fairly innocuous attempt to promote sustainable development practices. However, it’s become the enemy of the tea party, the John Birch Society and some Democrats, who believe the resolve is part of a global conspiracy carried out by state and local planning agencies to seize private property and corral people into "human habitation zones." 

Believers in the Agenda 21 conspiracy envision a ‘Blade Runner’ future that looks something like this:

Budget hearings: Lawmakers’ will step up their review of Gov. Paul LePage’s two-year budget on Wednesday. 

The Legislature’s Taxation Committee and the budget-writing committee will hold a joint public hearing on a host of the governor’s tax proposals, including cuts to the circuit breaker program and municipal revenue sharing. 

LePage tours MPBN: Gov. LePage made an earlier morning visit to Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s State House bureau on Wednesday. 

The governor was doing a live interview with FOX 23 (right next door) and stopped by to check out the control room for MPBN’s Capitol Connection. 

According to Mal Leary, the news director for the station, LePage was impressed with the operation.

Non-political item: So apparently some nut figured out how to make a "bread cheese bacon double cheese burger."

That’s right, bread cheese. No bun. 

Read about it here. 

(This post has been corrected to note that LePage recorded an interview with FOX 23)

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