Good morning from Augusta. Maine’s gubernatorial candidates will share a debate stage for the final time on Thursday evening in a race marked so far by mostly amiable in-person meetings — which may change tonight after the race took a negative turn on Wednesday.
Attorney General Janet Mills, a Democrat, released an ad hitting Republican Shawn Moody on his 2006 settlement with a former employee alleging gender discrimination. The New York Times quoted the former employee in a story last month, but Mills avoided mentioning it in person until now.
On the airwaves, Republicans defended Moody with an ad aimed at women. They have focused on a plea deal between Mills’ office and a former sheriff’s deputy accused of sex crimes against teenagers — without mentioning that he was found not guilty of two charges while a jury deadlocked on 20 others.
Mills and Moody now have more incentive to tussle as the independent candidate seeks any momentum she can grasp. The fighting in this race has largely been done on TV, so it’s hard to know how it will translate to tonight’s debate, which will be hosted by WGME and the Bangor Daily News in the CBS affiliate’s Portland studio. It will be the first and only televised gubernatorial debate since independent Alan Caron dropped out of the race on Monday.
To read the rest of “Maine governor’s race takes a nasty turn ahead of the final debate,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Michael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
