US Senator Snowe Challenger Andrew Dodge Drops Out of GOP After Maine Caucus Controversy

[HOLLYWOOD]

Frigin soap opera in Maine.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/state/2012/02/22/snowe-challenger-drops-out-gop-after-maine-caucus/1158787



Snowe challenger drops out of GOP after Maine caucus controversy
By Steve Mistler, Staff Writer
Published on Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012 at 2:02 pm | Last updated on Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012 at 5:05 pm

http://www.sunjournal.com/files/imagecache/small/2012/02/22/dodge.jpg (http://www.sunjournal.com/files/imagecache/story_large/2012/02/22/dodge.jpg) Andrew Ian Dodge
- Sun Journal file photo


Hound of hell: Tea party activist rips, but will he run? (http://www.sunjournal.com/state/story/954183)

AUGUSTA — Former tea party activist Andrew Ian Dodge announced Wednesday that he's abandoning his Republican primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, following last week’s controversy over the Maine Republican caucuses.
Dodge said he will run as an independent.
On Wednesday, Dodge, 43, said he's been a registered Republican since he turned 18. He said he decided to leave the party after the Maine GOP's handling of the nonbinding caucuses, which was criticized for disenfranchising voters.
The party initially didn't count voting results from some towns and counties in the final tally, and declared Mitt Romney the winner. Critics claimed it was an effort by party leaders to bolster Romney, the so-called establishment presidential pick.
Last week, besieged GOP Chairman Charlie Webster responded to those complaints, saying some of the votes had been lost in his e-mail spam folder.
Dodge didn't buy that excuse, nor did he appreciate what he described as Webster's "patronizing attitude" toward those who were upset by how the caucuses were handled.

"Webster belittled members of his own party to save his own skin," Dodge said. "He said people who were complaining were wing nuts ... I joined the tea party because we were bringing people into the Republican party. What the Maine GOP is doing is exactly the opposite."
Dodge added that Webster's excuse that caucus results went into a "spam folder" was "so bad it's beyond comment."
Webster and other GOP state party leaders did eventually agree to recount all caucus votes and to include late caucus votes in the final tally. Romney was still declared the winner.

Dodge also said he didn't believe he'd receive a fair shot in the GOP primary. "This whole thing is about Snowe getting re-elected now," he said.
Dodge had been one of two Republican candidates seeking to challenge Snowe. Scott D'Amboise of Lisbon Falls is now the lone Republican challenger.
Dodge has yet to file a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission because he has yet to earn $5,000 in donations.
He also may have fallen short of the 2,000-signature threshold to get on the June ballot. Had he continued to seek participation in the GOP primary, he would have had to submit the certified signatures to the Secretary of State's Office by March 15.
Dodge would not say how many signatures he had obtained before deciding to leave the party.
"It's irrelevant," he said. "We could have gotten them if we really pushed it."

As an independent, Dodge has until June to obtain 4,000 signatures to get on the November ballot.
Four Democratic candidates are hoping to get a shot at Snowe in November: Former Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, state Rep. Jon Hinck of Portland, state Sen. Cynthia Dill of Cape Elizabeth and Portland home-builder Benjamin Pollard.
smistler@sunjournal.com

[Umbro2914]

well now that Snowe won't be seeking reelection....

[Lucille]

well now that Snowe won't be seeking reelection....

Isn't it funny how the rats are abandoning the ship that they rammed into the ice burg? I wonder if she'll be running off to Argentina also, like the rest of the banksta-owned criminals who brought the country to its knees.


UPDATE (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/maine-senator-olympia-snowe-will-not-seek-reelection-in-blow-to-gop/): As luck would have it, Assistant Editor Mytheos Holt managed to get an exclusive interview with one of Snowe’s former Tea Party-affiliated primary challengers, now turned into a fully-fledged independent alternative candidate. And now that Snowe is no longer running, Dodge arguably has a good shot at running a real race. Some excerpts from the interview below:

[Brett85]

Maine seems to have some libertarian leanings, so could we find a liberty candidate to run for the Senate seat in Maine?

[nobody's_hero]

Onion News Network just posted this on facebook:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-breeding-program-aimed-at-keeping-moderate-rep,27371/


WASHINGTON—Saying the now critically endangered species of politician is at high risk for complete extinction within the next 10 years, Beltway-area conservationists announced plans Monday for a new captive breeding program designed to save moderate Republicans.

According to members of the Initiative to Protect the Political Middle (IPPM), centrist Republicans, who once freely roamed the nation calling for both economic deregulation and a return to Reagan-era tax rates on the wealthy, are in dire need of protection, having lost large portions of their natural terrain to the highly territorial Evangelical and Tea Party breeds.

"Our new program is designed to isolate the few remaining specimens of moderate Republicans, mate them in captivity, and then safely release these rare and precious creatures back into the electorate," said IPPM’s Cynthia Rollins, who traces the decline of the species to changes in the political climate and rampant, predatory fanaticism. "Within our safe, enclosed habitats, these middle-of-the-road Republican Party members can freely support increased funding for public education and even gay rights without being threatened by the far-right subgenus."

Disclaimer: I don't really accept that left-moderate-right measurement of where a politician stands. I think it's fairly innacurate, but, eh, someone might enjoy the story.

My favorite line, though, lol:


"The most difficult task we have is preserving members of this disappearing breed before the desperate need for votes forces them to begin parroting borderline racist anti-immigration ideologies and accusing their opponents of being socialists," tracker Phil Gandelman said. "We thought we had captured and tagged a truly exemplary specimen a few weeks ago, but when we studied the creature more closely, we realized it was just John McCain."