Second District Choice Is Clear
It's the bloviator from Florida vs. the servant leader
Once a political race is down to the final candidates, there’s usually a lot of daylight between the two opponents. This year in Maine, there’s a whole universe of daylight - maybe even the light of a thousand suns - between them.
Could Hannah Pingree and Bobby Charles be further apart? Not hardly. Could Troy Jackson and Susan Collins be further apart? Uh-uh. But I think the winner is the ME-2 race. Matt Dunlap and Florida Man Paul LePage are worlds apart from a policy standpoint, just like the others. However, this is probably the biggest style difference on display this year.
Matt Dunlap projects as a low-key, head-down administrator. Paul LePage projectile vomits his bitter, hateful rhetoric. Dunlap, 61, is a “nice guy.” LePage, 77, is an arrogant, racist, misogynist whose track record of being a rude blowhard is easily researched and hard to miss.
If you didn’t live through the two unfortunate Governor LePage terms, I won’t take the space here to tell you what you missed. But I did a full report here (scroll down to the first divider for the straight stuff), and believe me we don’t want to go back there.
A look at LePage’s campaign web site is interesting. “Finish the wall” is on the first page. Really? He wants to lower costs, which are high not because of his hero Trump’s tariffs or war of choice in Iran, but because of Biden. Fact check: inflation was at 3% when Biden left office. Right now, it’s 3.5%. LePage “understands high costs are hitting family and senior citizen budgets hard.” He’s right. Costs like beef, and health insurance, and pretty much everything Trump has tariffed. Which is almost everything.
Families are struggling because 15,340 Mainers have lost SNAP benefits thanks to That-Thing-That-Used-To-Be-The-Republican-PartyTM that LePage represents. He’s concerned about high costs, but how do you suppose he would have voted on the MAGA Murder Bill that will kick at least 30,000 Mainers off Medicaid?
It may be, in fact, that the race will turn on healthcare, according to reporting by the Maine Morning Star. “Republican nominee Paul LePage has said he will protect Social Security and Medicare, but has a history of opposing Medicaid expansions while he was governor. In contrast, Democratic nominee Matt Dunlap is campaigning on support for Medicare-for-all....Dunlap said healthcare is the issue he has heard about the most on the campaign trail.”
If this is correct, then LePage is in a very weak position, because his record doesn’t come close to matching his rhetoric. As Governor, he refused to expand Medicaid (five times!), even though Maine voters overwhelmingly voted to expand it. He removed some 90,000 people from the Medicaid rolls by limiting eligibility. He hollowed out Maine’s public health infrastructure, tried to eliminate 60% of child abuse investigators in Maine, and slashed funding for domestic violence prevention programs.
Now flip to Dunlap’s campaign web site. “In Congress, I’ll fight for universal childcare, good-paying jobs, and a surge in affordable housing to help our neighbors manage a middle-class life again. And I’ll fight to get Trump’s blanket tariffs lifted so families don’t have to worry about their own government making their lives unaffordable.”
Dunlap says “It’s past time to move towards a Medicare-for-all system that puts people’s health and financial well-being over private profits for health insurance companies and executives.” That sounds a bit more like someone who will protect Medicare. He is also 100% pro-labor, and 100% pro-choice. LePage’s record on labor is quite the opposite, and the same goes for a woman’s right to choose. In 2018, he said that if Roe v. Wade could be overturned, it should be. So I guess he’s happy now.
There is one recent development that probably says it all. CentralMaine.com asked a series of questions of both Dunlap and LePage. Dunlap got on the phone with the reporter. LePage had a campaign aide respond by text. Moreover, there were two questions LePage’s aide didn’t answer: 1) would LePage have supported the Iran war or would he have voted to block it? 2) if LePage would like to fix a problem through legislation, what would it be?
He’s certainly not lost any of his arrogance. And he hires to type.
Dunlap, by the way, answered that he would like to fix healthcare, through a Medicare-for-all approach.
The list of endorsements for each candidate also speaks volumes. LePage is endorsed by Trump, and by the Maine NRA. Dunlap is endorsed by the Maine AFL-CIO, the Maine Carpenter’s Union, Our Revolution (founded by Bernie Sanders), the Maine Peoples’ Alliance, End Citizens United, the National Nurses United, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Right now, all the political sites are favoring LePage. If that doesn’t change, Maine will be sending this Florida resident to represent it Washington, where he will march in lockstep with Trump.
You know what to do!
Is there anything LePage or any trumplican can offer that actually benefits The People…? I didn’t think so.