By Michael Shepherd - Aug. 2, 2022
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📷 U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District tours Peabody Hall at Husson University in Bangor on June 28, 2022. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

Good morning from Augusta. There are 98 days until Maine's November elections.

What we're watching today

A major deal between Democratic senators is still in flux but contains priorities shared by a key Maine swing vote. Washington was upended last week after Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has been the key Democratic holdout on the party's spending agenda, came to a deal with party leaders on a $739 billion climate and health care package.

While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is trying to rally his caucus behind the proposal, the ultimate package is still uncertain as the business lobby pressures holdout Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, on a 15 percent corporate minimum tax that would apply to the country's 200 biggest companies. She will have her chance to influence it in the coming days.

Since things remain in flux, Maine's delegation has been reasonably quiet on the specifics so far. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, criticized the process that led to the deal, which was released just after the Senate compromised on a bill aiming to jump-start the semiconductor industry. The Democratic deal stripped the leverage of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to dissuade the majority party from pushing a partisan spending package forward.

That is notable, since the Maine senator often aligns with Manchin, who endorsed her during her last run. Another member who has shared a lot with Manchin on spending has been U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District, who said in December that President Joe Biden needed to listen to moderates if he wanted to save his spending agenda. He opposed the American Rescue Plan Act in early 2021.

Both Golden and Manchin have crusaded against proposals to raise the cap on state and local tax deductions in a way that primarily benefits high-income Americans. This proposal sets that aside. Manchin's deal also would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, something Golden has long supported. On top of that, the package is fully paid for, a priority that Golden has shared.

The early reviews on the package are mixed. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has said the package is likely to cool down demand, reduce the risk of recession and amount to a small deficit reduction over a decade. But an analysis from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found only a small effect on inflation.

Republicans have pointed to a congressional analysis that says the package would broadly raise taxes on Americans, but it does not take into account the benefits in other areas of the proposal. Hits on that subject have made it into the party's early mobilization against the bill.

Golden, a vulnerable Democrat in a hotly contested race with former Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a Republican, would see a lot of ads on the topic if he aligns with his party. He looks to be a decent distance from doing so now with the package still up in the air, but many of his priorities are here.

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News and notes

The governor highlighted her family and legislative dealmaking in her first two ads.

— In the first set of ads from gubernatorial candidates in 2022, Gov. Janet Mills took a light touch, releasing two ads that accentuate her role as stepmother to her widower's children. The other is about her first term in office, mentioning increased school funding, a recent round of $850 relief checks and a good grade from conservative economists for pandemic management.

— The ads are running in the Portland and Bangor markets and online. Federal disclosures on the purchases were not immediately available on Monday.

— The two ads represent a large part of Mills' message in public so far at a time when federal aid to Maine has allowed her to travel the state and highlight spending items. Former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, has called the aid "funny money" and has said Mills has spent too much, too fast, but surplus have remained healthy and the rainy day fund has been at record highs.

LePage kicks off events featuring top-tier candidates in Bangor.

— He will speak to members of the Rotary Club of Bangor at noon Tuesday at the Richard Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson University.

— Other major Maine candidates will be there each week at the same time through Aug. 23, with Golden, Mills and Poliquin following the former governor, respectively.

— It's one of the first chances to see the candidates in a common environment, since few of them have had to break out of comfortable crowds so far during the more low-key portion of their races.

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What we're reading

— A protester was arrested outside the Mount Desert Island home of Leonard Leo, the co-chair of the conservative Federalist Society, after being accused of disorderly conduct in a case that may be linked to his swearing at Leo in downtown Bar Harbor earlier in the day.

— Collins and three Senate colleagues unveiled their long-awaited bill to codify abortion rights after a Supreme Court ruling that threw out federal protections. The Senate filibuster still makes it unlikely to pass.

— Maine restaurants and hotels saw a major bump in business this May, with taxable sales at lodging businesses up 18 percent from the same month in 2021 and restaurants up 8 percent despite deep staffing shortages.

— The only nursing home in the Deer Isle region was allowed to keep its license despite remaining closed since 2021. It is a reprieve that gives local officials more time to plot at least a partial reopening.

— Updated boosters for the COVID-19 variant driving cases now will be available in September, Maine's top health official told Maine Public.

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