Newly minted gubernatorial candidate John Richardson's morning rally in Brunswick:
The former Maine House Speaker announced today that he intends to seek the Blaine House and will be resigning from his position as Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development to do so. Governor Baldacci has announced that Richardson will be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Thaxter Trafton.
Richardson's campaign has the beginnings of a website up at www.johnrichardsonformaine.com. He will run as a clean elections candidate.
And speaking of succession, Augusta Rep. Patsy Crockett has announced her intention to run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Senate President and gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell. Mitchell has endorsed her bid.
Clean Elections
I am surprised he is running as a Clean Elections candidate. That decision goes against the conventional wisdom that a Clean candidate will not have the funds needed to win. With both Richardson and Mitchell running Clean, there is a significant chance that the Democrat nominee will be a publicly funded candidate. It adds an interesting angle to the race.
Clean
I'm sure it's in large part a tactical move - with so many Democratic candidates, finding donors becomes difficult - but it's definitely a good thing for the clean elections system. It'll be interesting to see what the ethics commission and the legislature do to make sure there's enough money in the pool.