Al Diamon has two legislative sources that say the A.J. Higgins story played a "significant role" in preventing Rep. Sean Faircloth from becoming Attorney General.

Faircloth didn't sit back and take it when the story came out, however. He and Sen. Joe Perry (also of Bangor) distributed this letter refuting the charges made in the piece and accusing his Democratic opponents of participating in the attacks.

Now that the race is over, PolitickerME reports that Brautigam is open to being appointed U.S. Attorney.

This week, Al Diamon completed his look (part 1, part 2) at possible 2010 gubernatorial contenders. Here are the major party names he mentions:

Democrats
Steven Rowe
John Richardson
Patrick McGowan
Beth Edmonds
Libby Mitchell
Tom Allen
Mike Michaud
Adam Cote

Republicans
Peter Mills
Kevin Raye
Joshua Tardy
Rick Bennett
Dana Dow
Paul LePage
Jon Doyle

The Portland Press Herald has been sold to Maine Media Investments, a company owned by U.S. Sen. Bill Cohen, Robert Baldacci and Michael Liberty, according to the Busby-Diamon tag team.

Update: A "purchase agreement" has been signed, but the deal is not yet final, according to today's PPH article.

As WGME reports, Paul Bennett, who was convicted of manslaughter for killing his infant son 15 years ago, was elected as a town selectman in Topsham. Because of the controversy his election is causing, however, he says he plans to resign the post.

Al Diamon has more on how badly the Times Record messed up by not reporting this fact about the candidate before the election.

Update: Bennett has posted a statement on his website.

Looks like the blog got two mentions in the Portland Phoenix this week, an honor usually reserved for hot new ska bands.

The first is the Diamon column. The second is in this piece on the differences between television and blog coverage of the Sarah Palin rally.

Al Diamon ridicules the idea that Palin will connect with 2nd District voters on a cultural level in his syndicated column this week. He also tosses me a mention:

Liberal political blogger Mike Tipping expressed much the same sentiment in a posting on Downeast.com: "Several Republican strategists have said that despite her tarnished national brand, Sarah Palin will still have some cachet here in Maine where her moose hunting and snowmobile riding could connect with voters on a cultural level."

I think this is obvious from the quote, but just for the record, I was repeating the sentiments of others (Republican strategists) and not agreeing with them. I'm a proud citizen of the second district, and as I wrote on this blog at the time:

I don't think a McCain push in Maine will work. There are a lot of other states that we'd see turn around for him first before the second district was really at play for McCain, and a bad economy hits a lot of folks here harder than it does in the rest of the country.

I don't think the fact that Palin has hunted moose will magically sway Maine voters, and the idea that it will is rather insulting.

Also a must-read is Diamon's column from last week where he implies that the pro-casino folks are "power-hungry greedheads intent on despoiling all in their path for no reason other than that they have the resources to do so".

In this week's Down East column, I reference McCain's "suspension" of his campaign as a reason to suspend the senate race series (thanks for the mention, PME) in order to focus on the economy.

But what did the campaign suspension actually mean in Maine? I called all three of McCain's Maine offices on Friday, at the height of the suspension, to find out.

In Portland things were going strong. "Absolutely we're open, there are a bunch of people around," said the man who answered the phone.

In Lewiston they were confused why I was even asking. "Nothing has changed for us" was the answer I got. They also informed me that they had run out of bumper stickers.

The Bangor office was either actually suspended or just too busy to answer the phone, it went straight to voicemail.

Also at Down East: Jeff Clark checks out Maine bank rankings and Al Diamon implies that the pseudonymous Wally Edge is an out-of-stater.

Also from Al Diamon: The Maine League of Conservation Voters is being nicer to Republicans this year.

Al Diamon points out a new blog written by former Press Herald reporter Kevin Wack.

The Maine Race will focus on the US Senate contest from the perspective of an experienced Maine journalist newly unleashed upon the internet. Wack already has some interesting insights, including some thoughts about how southern Mainers are perceived up North. He's also looking to print the full responses from both candidates to the recent AP questionnaire.

I personally didn't find the AP Q&As very useful. If I wanted to read bland, buzzword-filled summaries of policy positions written by a candidate's staff, I would read the issues sections of their website. It would probably have been a lot more interesting to get live responses from the candidates.

State treasurer David Lemoine has negotiated a deal with Merrill Lynch, wherein the company will buy back a failed investment which would otherwise cost the state $13 million.

The deal apparently came after the intervention of Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe.

Lemoine has previously received a great deal of flack for the expected loss. I wonder if Al Diamon still wants him fired.

UPDATE: Yep, Diamon still wants him fired, and has plenty of questions about the agreement.

Al Diamon's column this week is a trip through time, examining Baldacci's various announcements about cutting the income tax.

In my Down East post this week, I take a look at the likelihood of the 2nd Congressional District's lone electoral vote playing a pivotal role in the presidential election. There's also a roundup of the week's political news.

<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p> <p></p>
To test some of your own electoral scenarios, check out this map from the Washington Post.

Also at Down East, Al Diamon has always been at war with Eurasia.

MPBN has a great roundup of the potential problems that surround the group of investors seeking to buy the Blethen newspapers.

Al Diamon, of course, has more, and notes that Michael Liberty once hired a private investigator to track a Press Herald reporter who was writing about his financial difficulties. That reporter was, ironically, none other than Dennis Bailey, now a very high-profile public relations specialist (and blogger) who also happens to be the spokesman for the group of investors.

Al Diamon notes that, despite press releases and web reporting that occurred well before print deadlines yesterday, no Maine newspapers picked up the story about Susan Collins' monetary links to indicted senator Ted Stevens. He asks "If it wasn’t a lack of time that kept the story out of print, was it a lack of reporters? Or a lack of interest?"

If it was a lack of interest, the national press doesn't seem to share their ambivalence. The story has been linked to today by Politico.com, Talking Points Memo, and ABC News.

Thanks to Al Diamon for the plug.

Now, “Maine Politics” is back, and it’s as good as ever. Tipping’s take on how GOP U.S. Sen. Susan Collins stole the news-coverage thunder from Democratic challenger Tom Allen on recent endorsements by education groups is not only astute about politics, but sharp on the media angle, as well.