Today's Question
Each day, we ask MaineToday.com readers for their reactions to events in the news:

Race for U.S. Senate
Who is your choice for U.S. Senate?


Olympia J. Snowe, Rep.: 56.09%

Jean M. Hay Bright, Dem.: 30.36%

Eric M. Mehnert, Dem.: 13.55%


Total Votes: 1100

This survey is not scientific. The results are a snapshot of what readers who choose to take the survey are thinking. It is designed to allow readers to interact with the news of the day, and is not intended to be used for reference purposes.

We've Got Momentum!
April 14, 2006
On Friday, Portland Press Herald ran a news story about Senator Olympia Snowe's Campaign Kick-Off. Adjacent to that article was their Reader Poll Question of the Day, which asked "Who is your choice for U.S. Senate?"
The box on the right is what the totals
looked like on Saturday, April 15, 2006.
Yes, we know "this survey is not scientific." And we need to tell you that when we saw the topic, we put out a quick Action Alert to those on our campaign list, asking them to go to the site and vote. But so did the GOP, which undoubtedly has a bigger list than we do. And yet, and yet...

When looking at these results, keep these things in mind:
  1. The current SurveyUSA poll lists Olympia Snowe as one of the most popular Senators in the country, with an approval rating of 71%.

  2. From Friday afternoon on, Olympia Snowe's totals in the PPH reader poll never topped 58 percent, an occasionally dipped into the 55% range. And the totals for the Democrats, from Friday noon on, did not fluctuate more than 2 percentage points from the figures in this box.

  3. The number of people who voted in this on-line poll seems to be substantially higher, and in some cases double or triple, that of other recent PPH polls, giving it a bit more credibility than those with just a few hundred participants.

  4. The Democratic primary is still two months away, so Snowe's official Democratic opponent has yet to be determined.

  5. It is more than seven months until the November elections.

  6. Snowe has already raised more than $2 million for her campaign. Our campaign totals have been roughly 1% of that figure.
If a liberal, pro-choice, pro-labor, woman organic farmer two months before the Democratic primary can draw 30% of the "vote" in the Question of the Day in the state's largest daily newspaper, and push the popular incumbent Republican Senator from Maine to within half a dozen points of the magical 50% win-or-lose mark, just think of what could happen if that Democratic candidate had enough money to actually get the word out about her campaign.

So, you can see why I am feeling very good about this silly little newspaper question. And I'm quite proud of the response we got from our quick GOTV effort. (Thank you all.)

The momentum is with us.

Please join us, and let's all work to take back, and build up, the America we want to live in.