A.J. Higgins has just posted what he says is his first column in three years at the Capitol Connection Facebook page.

Higgins takes a look at the well-funded leadership PACs run by House and Senate leadership candidates, most of whom are running for their own seats as clean elections candidates.

There's also this great tidbit:

"So when are you guys going to start covering the governor’s race?"

The lobbyist asking me the question on the fourth floor of the State House didn’t really want to know. That was probably just his way of suggesting that he would have preferred that I was covering the governor’s race instead of a hearing on the bill he opposed that would prohibit lifetime and annual payment caps on health insurance.

From WVII:

There's one more important result of the Williams decision that I didn't mention at Down East (thanks to newly-elected Bowdoinham Selectman Dan Billings for cluing me in).

Because there will be no publicly-funded Green candidate in the general, the clean elections fund should now remain solvent throughout the election.

According to calculations done by the Ethics Commission staff, even if all four candidates (McGowan, Mitchell, Richardson and Mills) likely to qualify do so, each receives the maximum disbursement of matching funds, and Mills and one of the Democrats go on to the general election and receive the maximum there, the fund will still have a small surplus.

Here's a scenario they proposed which is similar (but not identical) to the largest outlay of money that we could now see.

Under this scenario, the fund would still have an estimated $230,832 left (minus $200,000 if you replace the "other candidate" with a Democrat and if the Republican makes it to the general).

The candidates running clean now have one less thing to worry about.

Update: After a chat with Jonathan Wayne at the Ethics Commission, I realize that there's still a chance the fund could be exhausted. Changing the presented scenario to have four candidates running in the primary, all with maximum disbursements, would increase the cost by $400,000, not the $200,000 I wrote above, and would put the fund a bit into the red.

This however, is not a very likely scenario.

The probable response by the commission to such a series of events going into the general election, according to Wayne, would be for the two candidates to receive their full initial funds and be informed that they could raise a relatively small amount of money in private contributions to make up for any potential shortfall in matching funds. If the third, privately-funded candidate in the race (or independent candidate-supporting groups) spent enough to exhaust all matching funds, the candidates could then spend the money they had raised.

After a lackluster fundraising performance so far, and despite promising not to, Green Independent gubernatorial candidate Lynne Williams has announced she will switch to private financing for her campaign.

See my Down East column for the details and possible repercussions. Full campaign email after the jump.

Matt Jacobson's first radio ad, featuring the longest crescendo in Maine political history:

Dan Billings takes a look at what might have happened if Pat McGowan had won his close race against Olymia Snowe in 1990.

Video of the Associated General Contractors' massive thirteen-candidate gubernatorial debate, held January 20th:

A candidate for governor says something worth listening to.

From a Rowe campaign release:

Today, Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Rowe announced his opposition to proposed budget cuts to Maine seniors and families and called for a tobacco tax increase.

Rowe said, "We need to put Maine people first. The proposed cuts will hurt Maine people and will result in increased future costs for Maine taxpayers. It's wrong to eliminate home-based services for our seniors who are trying to remain independent in their own homes. These cuts will cost us more later, and will force stricken communities to raise property taxes on Maine families. In short, these cuts are penny wise and pound foolish."

Rowe explained, "The proposed cuts in areas such as prescription drugs for seniors, home and community based services for elderly and disabled citizens, and mental health services will hurt those who need such services, will result in cost shifting to the property tax and will significantly increase costs in the near future. Seniors who can't afford maintenance drugs for chronic conditions will end up in hospitals, costing us all more money. People with severe mental illness who do not receive the treatment they need, will end up in homeless shelters, emergency rooms and jails, increasing costs to taxpayers. The human costs associated with these cuts are even higher."

Rowe continued, "We can begin to solve the problem by raising tobacco taxes which will have added benefit of helping reduce youth smoking. I urge a change in the proposed budget to stop the cuts and raise the tobacco tax instead of balancing the budget on the backs of Maine seniors, children and families."

Rowe concluded, "The state budget must meet the needs of Mainers today and prepare our State for the future. These are difficult times that require difficult decisions. We must ensure that those difficult decisions do not increase future costs and result in unacceptable human consequences. Putting tobacco interests above the interests of Maine people is wrong. It's time for leadership that protects what is most sacred, and that addresses Maine's most urgent needs."

More from MPBN.

MPN statehouse reporter A.J. Higgins is now blogging, sort of. Check out his posts on the new Capitol Connection Facebook page. The post stream is available by RSS here.

There's also an intro video:

I think my title references may be getting a little too obscure.

Over at Down East, you can read my interview with newly-unenrolled Representative Jim Campbell.

My analysis of fundraising in the gubernatorial race so far.

Republican 2nd District congressional candidate Jason Levesque has announced a campaign tour with a name that seems to perfectly fit this kind of political theater. From a campaign email:

Jason Levesque will be kicking off his 2010 campaign with "The Blah Blah Blah Tour", beginning January 21st in his hometown of Auburn. The 6 week tour will take Jason through several parts of Maine's 2nd District.

Update: It gets better. It seems the name actually began as a mistake in a press release.

More from Colin Woodard on the National Organization for Marriage's lawsuit to avoid revealing the source of the money it spent supporting Question 1.

Al Diamon has made his predictions for this year's gubernatorial race:

I think it’ll come down to Abbott and Rowe in November, with the Republican taking the Blaine House by a narrow margin, thanks to Cutler and Williams siphoning votes from the Democrat.

Diamon was spot on in 2006, but that wasn't exactly a hard race to forecast.

Rep. Seth Berry's predictions for the State of the State.

Rep. Melissa Walsh Innes on the "legislative coma" and making sausage.

Rep. Matt Peterson podcasts about the economy.