Pat McGowan resigned from his job as Maine's Conservation Commissioner today to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. McGowan, shown here not crashing his plane, is a former state representative and ran for Congress in the second district in 1990 and 1992, offering a tough challenge to then-Representative Olympia Snowe.

With many of the other Gubernatorial candidates hailing from southern Maine, McGowan's support in the second District may be a significant advantage. He plans to make his first campaign announcement tomorrow at 7am in Fort Kent.

State Rep. Dawn Hill, who was considered to be in the bottom tier of Democratic gubernatorial candidates and who hadn't seemed to be doing much campaigning, dropped out of the race on Thursday, citing an increasingly competitive Democratic field.

Hill plans to seek the Distict 1 State Senate seat, which is apparently being vacated by two-term incumbent Democrat Peter Bowman. District 1 was supposed to be a very competitive race last year, with Bowman facing off against former Republican Senator Mary Black Andrews, but Bowman ended up winning by a wide margin.