Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday he does not plan to attend the Republican Party’s national convention in Cleveland later this month, where the party is expected to make official its nomination of Donald Trump for president.

LePage, who appeared with Trump at a rally in Bangor last week, told Bangor’s WVOM radio show hosts George Hale and Ric Tyler that he would go if Trump called on him for help. But otherwise LePage said he would again sit out the national convention, as he did four years ago when Mitt Romney was selected to challenge President Barack Obama.

LePage first endorsed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s bid for the Republican Party’s nomination, then threw his support to Trump in February after Christie dropped out of the contest. Maine Republicans, however, selected U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas over Trump during the party’s caucus in March.

Trump has won primaries and caucuses in state after state, leading most to consider him the presumptive Republican nominee. But a growing movement among Republican faithful to upend Trump’s nomination has many political observers speculating that the convention in Cleveland could become a spectacle.

“I felt if he needed me there I would have gone,” LePage said of Trump, “but I think it is pretty much established.” LePage went on to say there might be some “shenanigans” at the national convention, as there were four years ago when Maine’s delegation, which was largely committed to U.S. Sen. Ron Paul, walked from the convention floor in protest.

Under Maine Republican Party rules, LePage is a delegate to the convention and would be among the 23 casting the state party’s votes, as reflected by caucus results in March. On the first ballot Maine’s delegates are committed to casting 12 votes for Cruz, as he received about 46 percent of the vote. Only a candidate who wins 50 percent or more of the caucus votes is given all 23 of Maine’s convention votes.

Trump, who won 32.5 percent of the Maine caucus vote, will receive nine of the delegates’ votes on the first ballot at the convention, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich will be awarded two votes.

Overall, however, Maine’s 23 votes could be irrelevant if the established national convention rules stand in Cleveland.

One of the Maine party’s 20 alternate delegates would have to replace LePage in Cleveland, if he doesn’t attend. On the alternate delegate list is LePage’s wife, Ann LePage.

LePage Tuesday also ruled out the possibility that Trump might tap him to be a running mate. LePage said instead Trump needs a partner from a larger state with more Electoral College votes than Maine’s four.

“He needs somebody from a big state like a Texas, a Florida, an Ohio, Pennsylvania, he doesn’t need somebody from Maine,” LePage said. LePage also offered who he thought would make a good running mate for Trump, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush.

LePage again said he was “seriously considering” challenging U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent, in 2018. LePage even tested out a possible campaign slogan, referencing a 1980s advertising campaign by the fast-food chain Wendy’s.

“Where’s the beef?,” LePage asked. “The beef’s not in Angus, it’s in LePage.”

But a recent Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram conducted by the UNH Survey Center in June of 467 likely voters statewide suggests King would win handily, picking up 63 percent of the vote to LePage’s 29 percent.

Scott Thistle can be contacted at 791-6330 or at:

sthistle@pressherald.com

Twitter: thisdog

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