By Michael Shepherd - Oct. 5, 2022
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📷 Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Republican former Gov. Paul LePage shake hands following a debate on Tuesday at the Franco Center in Lewiston. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

Good morning from Augusta. There are 34 days until Election Day.

What we're watching today

The long-awaited first debate between Gov. Janet Mills and former Gov. Paul LePage lasted nearly an hour and half on Tuesday and will be most remembered for a drawn-out and confusing exchange that led the Republican challenger to eventually say he would veto a 15-week abortion ban.

LePage took a more aggressive tack that seemed to confirm his posture as the underdog, calling Mills a "liar" early on while he was the one who had to be checked on facts. The incumbent was more even and seemed to be in a posture of getting through the debate unscathed, which she did aside from a key dodge or two.

Here's my notebook from the Maine Public and Portland Press Herald debate at the Franco Center in Lewiston, which also featured independent longshot Sam Hunkler.

LePage was on the attack early but stretched to distance himself from past stances. The first feisty exchange between the two came when Mills said LePage's signature 2011 tax cuts were paid for by increases in sales and property taxes. It is less direct than she portrayed it, but the cuts increased the state's reliance on the sales tax and property tax offsets were reduced.

The former governor fired back by saying the sales tax had not increased during his time as governor. That is not true, although it only went from 5 percent to 5.5 percent in a 2013 budget that was passed over LePage's veto. His comments were notable because he later floated tax overhauls that would have increased and broadened the sales tax to phase out the income tax, but they never passed. He still wants to do so, but he is vaguer on offsets.

"Right now, there are 10 states working to remove the income tax," LePage said. "We need to phase it out for the long haul."

Another exchange came about 10 minutes later on immigration. Mills said LePage had "joined" former President Donald Trump's 2017 ban on immigration from Muslim countries. It was perhaps inartful language from Mills, but he clearly supported it in a tweet at the time. That's when called the governor a liar and said he had never joined Trump on immigration policy.

Mills was mostly ready to parry many of her opponent's lines. The governor looked well-prepared early on. After LePage addressed his key issue of high costs and inflation by citing a report noting Maine's food costs are third-highest among states, she shot back by saying they were also third-highest during his administration.

She also took command of the abortion section of the debate, marked by a halting exchange between LePage and the moderators pressing him on what kinds of abortion limits he would support. Before he clearly said he would veto a measure outlawing abortion after 15 weeks, he said he did not understand questions on the topic, allowing Mills an opening.

"I understand the question. I would not let such law become effective," she said. "My veto pen will stand in the way of any restrictions on the right to abortion."

The governor was made uncomfortable at times. Her most notable dodge of the night came in response to a question on Republican attacks on her administration, which in May removed an online lesson from a state website that focused on teaching gender identity to kindergarten students. She called it an attempt to "deflect" from LePage's education record.

The loose LePage we saw in 2014 debates was not there under more pressure this time. LePage was a frustrating debate opponent for Democrats in eight years ago. In his first debate of that cycle, he famously high-fived independent Eliot Cutler. He made faces and laughed derisively when Democrat Mike Michaud spoke, underscoring his winning "actions, not words" reelection pitch that implicitly asked voters to set aside his history of bombast.

The former governor was not out of control on Tuesday night, greeting Mills when he took the stage and shaking her hand on the way out. But he was not loose, either. He was bothered by Mills' attacks on his record and had trouble at times getting back to his messages while being a clear underdog in the race. His debate highlight was probably in his closing statement.

"Ask yourself, are you off better today than you were four years ago?" he asked. "Is your grocery bill lower today than it was four years ago? Is your electricity bill lower today than it was four years ago?"

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News and notes

📷 Former Gov. Paul LePage addresses the audience as governor-elect at a Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Nov. 5, 2010. (BDN photo by Matt Wickenheiser)

2️⃣ Mills and LePage will be back at it early Thursday.

◉ The governor and her predecessor will appear before the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce at Thursday's "Eggs and Issues" meeting for an hourlong 8 a.m. back-and-forth that should center on the economy.

◉ This debate will not be televised. Mills and LePage will meet three more times on TV. But that next one will not be until Oct. 24, when CBS News 13 and the Bangor Daily News will host them in the network's Portland studio with Gregg Lagerquist and yours truly moderating. Here's my soundtrack.

◉ Hunkler will not be at the chamber debate and he is tracking to not be at ours. While we have prospectively invited the longshot, he has so far missed a qualifying threshold of getting 5 percent support in a public poll.

🔊 Here's the spin on Tuesday's debate.

◉ "The fact that @PaulLePage2022 was so incredibly unprepared to answer that abortion question - which he must have known with certainty was coming - tells you that he isn't just a liar, but that he's a terrible liar," Maine Democratic Party Chair Drew Gattine tweeted.

◉ "Janet Mills' ultra-progressive economic, drug, and education policies are failing in real time and Mainers are worse off because of it," Maine Republican Party Chair Demi Kouzounas said in a statement. "Tonight made it clear: if you want change in Maine, vote for Paul LePage."

◉ "I want to be crystal clear: if Janet Mills would have worked with the Legislature, her policies would have been much less harmful," Rep. Josh Morris, R-Turner, said in response to Mills saying she looped in lawmakers on pandemic policies. "She should be more honest with the Maine people. This is why we need Paul LePage back in office."

◉ "Because nothing bad ever happened when people trusted a an anti-abortion man when ... he said that abortion was settled law," tweeted Jonny Asen, a Democratic operative who once worked for former House Speaker Sara Gideon.

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What we're reading

📮 Maine Democrats were dominating early absentee voting requests by a 5-to-1 margin over Republicans as of Tuesday. They run out to early leads in every election, but this is their biggest share in any election back to 2014.

⛪ This 18-year-old was homeless in Bangor and overdosing regularly. Religion gave him a unique path out.

✋ Maine had to stop handing out rent relief last week after burning through $259 million in federal funds since March 2021.

💸 A Mount Desert Island home may be the most expensive one ever to go on the Maine market.

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