After waking up the day after Election Day to find that, no, there will be no “blue wave” of voters, I received a message from a shocked friend asking, “What do they (the voters) see in him (Donald Trump)?” After a moment’s thought, I sadly returned my answer: I’m coming to the conclusion that what […]

I’m disappointed that Downeasters up north chose Susan Collins over Sara Gideon. But it’s sweet when the prognosticators of pre-election polls are proven wrong. Mainers choose their elected officials with more nuance than folks in New York. We tend to roll hard left or hard right without much space for complexity. Here in the land […]

I read the final chapters of Mary Trump’s book while on my way to the polls on Tuesday morning. I was not surprised about what she said about growing up in the Trump family or the clinical assessment she makes of that experience. It is good to hear, firsthand, that families are, indeed, as powerful […]

On June 1, 1950, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith delivered her famous Declaration of Conscience denouncing the shameful and deliberately untruthful tactics of Sen. Joe McCarthy. In her speech, she called on other Republicans to join her in denouncing the lies and wrongful accusations lobbed by McCarthy. She rose to the occasion and her stance demonstrated […]

Thank you to Cape Elizabeth Town Clerk Deb Lane and her team of employees and volunteers on a well-run election. This was Deb’s eighth presidential election! I know I speak for many in saying how much we appreciate a job well done. And we are lucky indeed that all across Maine, there are hundreds of […]

Thanks to Anja Hanson for her heartfelt column about this summer’s Portland Adult Education students and their parking lot graduation (“Maine Voices: Recent Portland Adult Education graduate a role model as we hurry up and wait,” Nov. 3). I was there as the tutor of a woman I’ve had the honor of knowing for many […]

If Sens. Susan Collins and Mitt Romney really care about governing to address our country’s problems, they would make deals to caucus with the Democrats. Their votes would give the Democrats Senate control. In exchange they could extract promises not to pack the Supreme Court; not to add states; not to scrimp on contracts sent […]

There was an apolitical emotion in play which, I believe, partially explains Susan Collins’ victory. Everyone knew someone like Sara Gideon in high school and they didn’t like them then, either. Seemingly sweet and lovely on the outside, vicious on the inside. Ms. Gideon’s campaign ads brought forth this buried recollection in many voters. The […]

As the old Scottish poem says, the best-laid plans often go astray. That’s exactly what happened to the Democrat Party here in Maine on Election Day. The party had what they thought was the plan to unseat Susan Collins. They poured in millions of dollars in out-of-state money to lead a dirty ad campaign that […]