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Camp closes; curfew passes; activism continues

Occupy Watch
Let's just say it: The first phase of OccupyMaine ended with a fizzle, not a bang. The showing at Friday's 10 pm deadline for Occupiers to be out of Lincoln Park was poor.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 15, 2012

Maine's donkey party loves the rich and the poor — but can't protect both

Two-faced Democrats
In the current legislative fight over Republican Governor Paul LePage's lust to slash Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) programs because of a $221-million shortfall in its budget, Democrats say over and over that they want to protect the poor, sick, and disabled people from whom the governor wants to withdraw state assistance.
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 15, 2012

Why the Republican embrace of just one Catholic issue is the height of hypocrisy

Come to Jesus
We like men in dresses as much as the next person.
By EDITORIAL | February 15, 2012

Mitt's Charlie Card

It's no surprise that Barack Obama would copy from Deval Patrick's re-election playbook. But why is Mitt Romney making Charlie Baker's mistakes?
Last week, Mitt Romney stood uncomfortably to the side as he accepted the endorsement of reality-show blowhard and occasional birther Donald Trump in Las Vegas.
By DAVID BERNSTEIN | February 08, 2012

Getting the Ron-around

Checking in with presidential hopeful Paul
While fellow Republican hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum fight it out in Florida, Ron Paul, dark-horse candidate and Constitutional fundamentalist, sallied forth along his unorthodox campaign trail, hitting states with upcoming caucuses rather than primaries.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 01, 2012

Will Ron Paul try for a win in Maine?

Primary School
Maine Republicans are gearing up for this state's presidential caucuses, scheduled for February 4-11 this year.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 18, 2012

Photos: New Hampshire Primaries, Friday, January 6th, 2012

Ron Paul and Rick Santorum speak to packed houses
Ron Paul and Rick Santorum speak to packed houses in New Hampshire for the first day of the weekend primary.
By JEREMIAH ROBINSON | January 09, 2012

The Year Ahead in Mitt

Prepare yourself for 12 months — well, at least 11 — of watching our handsome, well-coiffed former governor
Here's a quick look at some key dates for Romney, and what you might want to keep an eye on when his face pops up on your TV screen. Remember, there's a lot at stake: if he wins, you get at least four more years of Mitt-watching.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 28, 2011

QUIZ: Candidate or Criminal?

Telling politicians from those in the pen isn't easy — just take their words for it
Of the 16 passages printed below, half were written or spoken by a 2012 Republican candidate for president. The other half were written by incarcerated criminals. Can you tell the difference?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 21, 2011

Boenher's shame: The putrid politics of Republican negativity.

Or, the GOP’s Payroll-Tax screw-up explained
Pity John Boehner. By rights, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Boehner should be considered one of Washington's most powerful leaders.
By EDITORIAL | December 21, 2011

Twenty years on

Looking back on two decades of columns
There are topics that are even more boring than a columnist writing about how long he's been a columnist.
By AL DIAMON | November 16, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

Drawing a line

Bipartisan agreement
Remain calm. You've probably heard that a special commission has failed to reach bipartisan agreement on a plan to redraw the boundary between Maine's two congressional districts in order to make their populations as close to equal as possible. Don't panic.
By AL DIAMON | September 07, 2011

Museum dreams

Political Paleontology
This week, we're joining a guided tour of the Maine Museum of Political Paleontology. A docent is explaining to a group of schoolchildren what's happening in a scene depicting cave people trying to register to vote.
By AL DIAMON | August 24, 2011

Mitt's best week ever

Romney's presidential quest is looking better than ever - no thanks to his own campaign
The quadrennial farce known as the Ames Straw Poll has once again made its mark on the race for the Republican presidential nomination — by rewarding the candidate smart enough to avoid it.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 17, 2011

How they hate him

LePage vs. The Media Alliance to Ridicule, Degrade, and Eviscerate Normal Society
Republican Governor Paul LePage has every right to be angry at Maine journalists for depicting him as a clueless buffoon with the political skills of a rabies-maddened raccoon and the public-relations prowess of day-old bait.
By AL DIAMON | August 10, 2011

The debt crisis is only on hold

Plus, what does congressman Bill Keating have against Cuban families?
The United States was only hours away from joining in the international community of deadbeats and bunko artists — think Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal — when President Barack Obama signed the legislation raising the national debt ceiling and cutting trillions of dollars in federal spending.
By EDITORIAL | August 03, 2011

the great depression and republican Bolsheviks

There is no mystery to the debt crisis. Plus: Scott Brown, and the Boston Foundation

Republican Bolsheviks
Understanding the debate about raising the debt ceiling, and imagining the economic crisis that will follow if Congress fails to do so, is really very simple.
By EDITORIAL | July 20, 2011

The plan to turn Rhode Island red

GOP strategist Ken McKay is quietly plotting a data-driven explosion of the state’s one-party rule
The Rhode Island Republican Party's reputation for ineptitude is, by any reasonable measure, richly deserved.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 12, 2011

Undeclared GOP Candidates

Big Fat Whale
Future GOP heroes emerge.
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | June 08, 2011

Sarah Palin joins the GOP presidential race

Palin's magic bus ride just might save Romney -- and run over Obama

Sarah to the rescue?
Democrats are positively giddy over the sudden re-entry of Sarah Palin into Republican presidential politics.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 01, 2011

How the GOP rammed through huge changes in Maine’s health-care system

Republicans unleashed
When Governor Paul LePage boarded a plane for an unscheduled Jamaican vacation in early April, Maine moderates and progressives breathed a sigh of relief.
By COLIN WOODARD | June 09, 2011

We are family

The Maine Republican Party
Campaigning for office is easy. It's governing that's hard.
By AL DIAMON | May 25, 2011

The politics of killing Granny

And why it matters to Scott Brown
All politicians love gimmicks. But Republicans seem to be especially fond of them.
By EDITORIAL | May 26, 2011

Anyone but Mitt

Romney vs. the GOP
Political leaders don't always rally around the front-runner for their party's presidential nomination, but they normally at least offer deference and respect. That doesn't, however, seem to be the case with Mitt Romney.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 25, 2011

Going, gone

LePage should just resign
Republican Governor Paul LePage should do himself, his party, and his state a favor by pulling a Sarah Palin and resigning.
By AL DIAMON | May 12, 2011

Republicans continue to wage war on women

Plus, Beacon Hill follies, youth violence
The Republican Party's unrelenting war on women is now being waged with such frenzied fury that sane people might well wonder if there is a GOP-wide obsession with punishing an entire gender.
By EDITORIAL | May 11, 2011