Earlier this week, Eliot Cutler announced that he is running for governor in 2014 as an independent, alongside Democratic candidate U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud and Republican incumbent Gov. Paul LePage.
Some have said Cutler should drop out, calling him a spoiler ”“ particularly opponents of LePage who feel his candidacy helped LePage narrowly win the 2010 election.
We disagree.
Mainers are known for their independence, not for allegiance to a particular party. The majority of Maine voters choose a candidate after careful consideration of his or her ideas, positions on issues and experience ”“ not on the party with which they are affiliated. Unenrolled voters, in fact, make up the largest voting bloc in the state.
LePage won the 2010 election narrowly, with 38.1 percent to Cutler’s 36.7 and Libby Mitchell’s 19. Two lesser-known independents were also in that race, Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott, with 5 percent and 1 percent of the vote, respectively.
What’s giving LePage’s opponents heartburn about Cutler entering the race is their fear that it could happen again.
Public Policy Polling’s most recent results, from January, show that LePage has a 55 percent disapproval rating, but that given a three-way race he still stands a chance of winning. Head to head against either Cutler or Michaud, he would not win re-election, according to the polling company’s results, but with a three-way race, he could retain his seat with less than 40 percent of the vote.
Though it’s far too early yet to make any realistic predictions about this race, we just can’t stomach calling for any candidate to drop out or step aside so someone else can win. This is a democracy, and voters should not be subject to only two choices, of candidates beholden to party platforms with which the voter may not agree. For those who do adhere to the party line, that’s fine, but it’s clear in Maine that those people are not in the majority, and the rest should not have their options limited.
The Republican party in particular has become so fractured as to put many voters, and even candidates, between a rock and a hard place. The party is fracturing into the staunchly conservative, tea party wing and the more moderate wing, and it’s alienated many Republicans ”“ most notably long-time U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who abandoned her seat due largely to frustrations with growing partisanship and inter-party struggles.
Just last month, 13 high-profile Maine Republicans announced their decision to leave the party, including Maine’s Republican National Committee member, six state committee members and six members of the party. This group decided the party did not represent them because it has become too liberal. Meanwhile, other Republicans find themselves shut out by the party’s trend toward becoming too conservative.
In a Pew Research nationwide poll results released this summer, it’s clear that Republicans cannot even agree on what they want the party to represent going forward, with no majority emerging on whether to become more conservative, more liberal or stay the current course on a myriad of issues, from abortion to immigration, gay marriage and guns.
All of this makes it harder for a registered Republican to even trust that a Republican candidate is going to represent them, which opens up the field for other candidates.
The fact is, like it or not, the candidate with the most votes wins. LePage got the most votes last time, and he may yet again in this race. Either way, Maine people will have spoken and democracy will have worked. Calling for people to stay out of the race so one man’s odds are better is no way to run a democracy.
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