Got a little debate withdrawal now that the three presidential debates are over?

Never fear. You can get your fix of zingers and talking points this week with three debates — two on TV and one on the radio — between Maine’s U.S. Senate candidates.

WCSH-6 will broadcast its live debate Monday at 7 p.m.

WMTW-8 will broadcast its live debate Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The three major candidates, independent Angus King, Republican Charlie Summers and Democrat Cynthia Dill, are expected to participate. The three other independent candidates, Steve Woods, Andrew Ian Dodge and Danny Dalton, also will get some statewide exposure with a week left before Election Day.

CHRISTIAN GROUP URGES PRE-ELECTION FAST

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The Christian Civic League is encouraging followers to participate in a 48-hour fast leading up to Election Day.

In its weekly newsletter, the league outlines three fasting options: water fasting (no food, just water); Daniel fast (no pleasant foods, just vegetables and water); and liquids only (water, juice). The fast runs from 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, when the polls close.

Although the call for a fast doesn’t specifically mention Question 1, the gay-marriage ballot initiative, the league has been deeply involved in running and funding the campaign to urge a “no” vote.

The newsletter also asks for donations so the campaign can run a Billy Graham newspaper ad in the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News. It notes that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association took out an ad in The Wall Street Journal recently in which Graham urges people to vote for “the candidates who support the biblical definition of marriage between one man and one woman.”

BRUNSWICK BOOKSTORE TAKES FLAK FOR ITS STAND

There is quite a battle taking place among supporters of candidates running for House District 66 in Brunswick.

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Recently, Gary Lawless and Beth Leonard, co-owners of Gulf of Maine Books on Maine Street, found themselves immersed in a fight that is dividing local progressives.

Lawless and Leonard have displayed a sign supporting Mattie Daughtry, the Democratic candidate in the race. Apparently, this is not sitting well with some supporters of Green Independent candidate Fred Horch. According to an email the owners sent to patrons, some local Greens have suggested they will boycott the business.

The dust-up marks the latest development in the District 66 race. Last week, Jonathan Crimmins, a local Republican leader, made news because he had a Horch sign on his property rather than a sign supporting Grant Connors, the Republican in the race. Crimmins said the sign was his wife’s, not his.

However, Daughtry’s supporters are convinced that Republicans are colluding with Horch in an attempt to limit Democrats’ chances of gaining a majority in the House of Representatives.

CENTRIST GROUP THROWS SUPPORT WOODBURY’S WAY

OneMaine, the organization promoting centrist political candidates, has entered the highly competitive state Senate race in District 11.

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Independent expenditures from the Maine Ethics Commission show that the OneMaine political action committee will spend more than $13,000 on mailers supporting independent incumbent Sen. Dick Woodbury of Yarmouth. Woodbury is facing a tough re-election fight against Republican Chris Tyll, who has won the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Snowe is featured prominently in an ad supporting Tyll. It’s only the second ad that she’s appeared in during the election.

The OneMaine expenditure marks the second outside group that has entered the race to support Woodbury. The incumbent has been targeted by more than $70,000 in outside spending, most of it negative, by Republican and tea party groups. The spending is a problem for Woodbury, a Maine Clean Elections Act candidate who can spend only $20,454 on his re-election effort.

Another pro-Woodbury PAC, run by Verrill Dana attorney William Harwood, has also entered the race with mailers opposing Tyll. The opposition mailers haven’t surfaced yet, but it’s likely that they’ll echo the current critique of Tyll, who was involved in a failed effort to uphold the Republican repeal of Maine’s same-day voter registration law.

OneMaine is headed by 2010 independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler. Cutler and Angus King, the independent candidate running for the U.S. Senate, have also attended campaign events on Woodbury’s behalf.

Staff Writer Steve Mistler can be reached at 791-6345 or: smistler@pressherald.com

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On Twitter: @stevemistler

Staff Writer John Richardson can be reached at 791-6324 or at: jrichardson@pressherald.com On

Twitter: @jrichmaine

Staff Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 621-5643 or at: scover@mainetoday.com

On Twitter: @smcover

 


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