It's Now A Two-Way Race: Baldacci v. LaMarche

Portland, Maine — With only a week left in the race, Maine's newspapers have split in their endorsements for the candidate who should be Maine's next governor. Gov. Baldacci, as expected, received endorsements from the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald. Today, however, in what can only be described as a major shift in direction for the campaign, Green Independent candidate Pat LaMarche picked up the endorsement of the Courier Gazette and the Portland Phoenix.

With only the televised Maine Public Broadcasting debate scheduled for Wednesday night, and a gubernatorial debate scheduled for Colby College on Thursday night, the gubernatorial campaign season is drawing to a close with two strong contenders left standing: Baldacci and LaMarche.

LaMarche has embarked on a final week campaign schedule that includes both offline and online outreach. A marathon of campaign events around the state is being supplemented with email outreach and a text messaging campaign that is being heralded by experts and participants alike for its cutting edge tactics.

Pat's website, already being archived for its "historic" value by the Library of Congress, is receiving an unprecedented response from the people of Maine. The average visitor stays 12 minutes and reads ten pages on www.pat2006.com, while the industry standard is one page and under one minute. The most accessed pages are Pat's biography page and the comparison page, showing that visitors want to know who she is and what sets her apart from the other contenders.