Political Atmosphere in Maine (Portland, Bangor: real estate, lawyers, buying)

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by island mermaid

Nor, there are also plenty of the same type of thinkers in the southern part of the state as well.

Hi Mermie!

Gosh, if the southern part of Maine has "plenty of the same type of thinkers" as the northern part, Maine must be heaven indeed!

...or, would you perhaps not go quite that far???

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Hi Mermie!

Gosh, if the southern part of Maine has "plenty of the same type of thinkers" as the northern part, Maine must be heaven indeed!

...or, would you perhaps not go quite that far???

I would go almost that far, further once you get here!

[Evan_Lanctot]

LePage scares me; not his ideas but his mouth. Saying he would say F You to the President of the United States is not indicative of a steady mind. Nor is swearing to a bunch of reporters.

[IrishMom76]

Just moving to Maine and not know this was going to be my future even in the begining of the summer I dont know alot about the canidates, although now that I have internet access back I am doing my research.
All I know is government should be small, and it should be run by the people for the people, and that this time in history is one where we are very far from those principals.

[mrs1885]

Originally Posted by IrishMom76

Hey Im here now...what more could you need? *L*

Oh, we'll be doing lunch once I get up there. You can show me around!!

Everyone here has been great really. I'm so excited to get up there. Just trying to get through the last of today and tomorrow and then I'm free!!! I'll start making plans to get up and look at the house in Lee if it's still available. We can't actually move until next May when our daughter graduates, but we can at least sell here and buy there and just rent something in TN.

*excited*

[mrs1885]

Originally Posted by IrishMom76

Just moving to Maine and not know this was going to be my future even in the begining of the summer I dont know alot about the canidates, although now that I have internet access back I am doing my research.
All I know is government should be small, and it should be run by the people for the people, and that this time in history is one where we are very far from those principals.

Gah!!! Tried to rep ya but gotta spread the love. Garrrr!!!!!

A big to ya though! Exactly the way I feel!

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by TerryDactyls

Maine is on the short list of states to which I may move when I retire. Research on housing, cost of living, amenities, etc. is reasonably straight forward. However, trying to get a grasp on the political atmosphere of an area is not so easy. For example, I am currently in Austin, Texas which is always considered a liberal bastion of Texas. Well, liberal in Texas means you only like the death penalty some of the time and not for all crimes. The religious conservatives control the state and Austin also (trying to remove Thomas Jefferson from school history books because he introduced separation of church and state, evolution is banned, current history books are anti-Christian and pro-Islam). This came as quite a shock. But for now, I'm locked into working for three more years and then I'm heading back to cold and snow. So my question for all you Maine-iacs (or whatever you call yourselves) is: what is the general outlook of the populace on politics, religion, ethnicity, etc. And if it can be compartmentalized by region, that would be great. I'm currently thinking no further north than Augusta and not on the coast. Thanks.

The views an any particular forum may or may not be an accurate reflection of the general population of a state. Most of the Maine that I see is as liberal as most of New England.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by Evan_Lanctot

LePage scares me; not his ideas but his mouth. Saying he would say F You to the President of the United States is not indicative of a steady mind. Nor is swearing to a bunch of reporters.

I would rather have a governor who puts his foot in his mouth than one who tries to put their hand in my pocket.
LePage said he'd tell Obama to go to He*& on some issues. He didn't use the F word. Just saying.

Southern Maine is VERY liberal. There are pockets of liberalism in other areas, such as Bar Harbor, Augusta, and university/college
towns. The more rural areas are fairly conservative.

[mainebrokerman]

I have friends all over the political spectrum, very decent and caring people whether they are left or right leaning-there is so much labeling, and misinformation when dealing with politics, but i have observed some common trends-most of the folks i know that are receiving any state assistance, or are in unions or thier paychecks are derived from taxes (teachers, state workers etc.) seem to be left leaning- most of the business owners, and private sector workers(I know) seem to be right leaning
Since I work with businesses, and business owners, most of the folks i know throughout maine are capitalists-they want goverment and regulations/taxes out of thier way, so they do lean right
I do believe most Mainers (outside of portland) do lean independent-meaning neither party owns them-
they vote for the individual and thier platform/ideals)

I've heard more "throw all the bums out " attitude in the past year than ever before- many folks are working two jobs just to get by- they despise the fact of politicians getting "greased" with golden parachute retirements, and spending money we don't have- many of us have had to downsize because of the tough economy-while politicians are still livin high off the hog and again, spending "our" labor induced tax dollars for stupid political paybacks.

[Submariner]

I think that Mainers have a wide spectrum of political views.

It seems that every bond issue, every attempt to raise taxes that goes to the voters will be voted in. People seem to say they want taxes lowered, but once they step into the voting booth, they vote to raise taxes.

On the other hand, nearly everyone hunts and fishes. Open carry is legal, and to get a Concealed Carry permit [CCW] is very easy. The Police need to be able to prove that you should not have a CCW before they can deny you one. Full-auto weapons are also popular in Maine. So in terms of firearms Maine seems to be very conservative; only Texas and Alaska are more gun friendly.

Maine also has two senators who act like they are on one party, but then they both flop like weekly. It seems like with every issue that comes up nobody has any idea how they will vote. Right up to the last minute, they will flop and flop, so it remains difficult to guess who the puppeteer is.