Republican Peter Mills today became the first gubernatorial candidate to claim to have met the requirements to run a publicly financed campaign under Maine's clean election system.

In a recent Sun Journal article, Mills said the main hurdle to qualifying as a clean elections candidate was not raising $40,000 in $100 seed money contributions, but collecting the 3,250 $5 contributions now required by the law.

Apparently, few of Mills' contributions came through the state website. The vast majority were instead gathered through the canvassing efforts of his team of "dozens and dozens" of volunteers.

Full announcement after the jump.

Former President Bill Clinton today endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell. In an email to her supporters, he notes her tenure as chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, a position she was appointed to by his administration.

Full release and email after the jump.

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.

My analysis of fundraising in the gubernatorial race so far.

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.

Independent candidate Eliot Cutler hits the airwaves with his first TV ad today. Cutler is the second candidate to run a television ad, but unlike Les Otten he's not competing in a June primary and is instead hoping to raise his profile for the general election in November. He's obviously acting now in an attempt to avoid being drowned out by the increasing cacophony of the two highly-contested party primaries.

The ad, with its focus on three rather vague terms describing the candidate, reminds me of a poster you'd see for a high school student council candidate. No real emotional or issue-based hook here.

Otten's new Ad:

Ignoring Justin Ellis' prohibition, two more Republican candidates have entered the race for governor. Steve Abbott's website is now up, draped in a tasteful maroon reminiscent of his Orono High School days (go Red Riots) and the campaign has three launch events scheduled today in Portland, Orono and Presque Isle. He also has an impressive list of early supporters.

Another Republican seems to be taking a very different tack. Husson College President William Beardsley has registered his candidacy with the ethics commission with zero fanfare.

Update: The BDN reports that Beardsley will have a formal announcement later this week.

Pat McGowan got plenty of airtime for his announcements today. The media seems to now be paying some real attention to the governor's race.

Fort Kent:

Bangor:

Portland: