BLOG #12
"From the alleys of Lincoln Street,
Lewiston to the Blaine House"
For everything there is a season-for everything there is a reason.
Paul LePage has realized "the American Dream."
The "dream" lives on, it is still real. We are all the better for it.
LePage now moves , from a young child in the alleys and tenements
of Lincoln and Oxford streets in Lewiston to the "Blaine House,"
the Governor's mansion.
Somehow, I knew it was to be when I picked him from twenty-one
candidates in September of 2009.
When I wrote the slogan "a new dawn for Maine" while working with
LePage last fall, little did I know how prophetic those words would
become.
We talked about a coalition for victory: traditional republicans,
conservative independents, and Franco-American democrats.
The coalition held, and just before noon on Wednesday, Eliot
Cutler conceded-Paul LePage became Governor-Elect.
I missed most of the fun, because my personality was too much like
Le Page's, and I wanted to winter in Florida.
I firmly believe that LePage's victory was providential-
preordained.
In order to win the kind of a campaign LePage ended up in-
you have to have an element of luck too, and "God helps those
who help themselves."
An old friend, Brent Littlefield in Washington, does politics for
a living. I do it as a hobby.
In the early days of the campaign, now forgotten by just about
everybody...I had been in continuous touch with Brent seeking
advice and complaining to him about how difficult it was to
get Paul to accept some of my recommendations.
He kept admonishing me that all this was not unusual and that
most candidates are difficult to work with.
In every campaign there are turning points.
The first came after I had voluntarily departed, when Littlefield
got LePage to agree to visit with him at the Senator Motel and
Restaurant in Augusta while the Littlefields were visiting parents for
Thanksgiving.
They hit it off and Littlefield came on board.
It was a rocky road, but LePage started to listen and when his
"story" and terrific record of fiscal conservatism as Mayor of
Waterville became widely circulated by the press, he was embraced
by the "tea partiers" at the state convention.
This newly energized group, many attending the convention for
the first time, raised LePage to front-runner status at just the
right moment.
Those many pundits who did not see the LePage landslide
coming in the primary, chose to ignore LePage's big wins in
one straw poll after another at the Republican caucuses through-
out the state.
After I made sure we had a straw poll at the Kennebec County
caucus, I told Paul at that event that he was going to easily win
the Republican nomination.
Things got tougher after that.
Coming into the fall of this year, suddenly the deeply entrenched
liberal political establishment realized the threat that LePage
presented.
Those who despise the term "conservative" went to work.
As I had warned a year earlier, they threw everything they could
at him.
Fully aware of Paul's temper they went after his wife by leaking
a story to the press concerning her Florida home purchased for
her ailing mother.
Vindication eventually came from officials in Florida exonerating the
LePages from any wrong-doing.
Paul also fought old demons probably precipitated by his child-
hood on the streets of Lewiston.
He has an acerbic sense of humor and thought he was being
funny commenting on Libby Mitchell's age and saying that he
would probably be telling Obama to "go to hell."
(Now he is going to visit him in the oval office.)
As things started to unravel, Paul's fortunes took another turn
for the better.
Sensing things slipping away-Senator Susan Collins dispatched
her communications guy Lance Dutson to Maine and the LePage
campaign.
He along with a newly pro-active, aggressive state republican party
led by workhorse Charlie Webster gave LePage the help and
professional support that I always tried to explain to him he
would need.
They successfully circled the wagons.
LePage finally listened.
It was a sharp learning curve for the "maverick mayor of
Waterville" (from a piece that I had written for him).
But, he did listen and learned.
I will always regret that because I am as stubborn as LePage
that I couldn't be there for the full ride, but as I overcame
my doubts, especially at the end when he succeeded in fighting
off the hostile press and his detractors, my support for him
became unequivocal.
I offered to do a fundraiser with Duke "the barber" Dulac
in Augusta and told all my friends and associates that there was no
question that LePage was the best choice for Governor.
I was drawn, like a moth to the flame, to the remarkable life
story, and the highly successful record as Mayor of Waterville.
LePage is a marketing persons dream.
Obviously, I cannot and do not take any credit for the LePage
campaign success, but I am delighted at his well deserved victory and
happy for my friend Brent Littlefield.
Since I did get to know LePage pretty well, I want to conclude this
reflection on the anatomy of an incredible election by offering with
complete confidence-some reassuring advice.
Governor Paul LePage will surprise you.
Do not continue to underestimate him.
His supreme confidence, strength of character, and personal
courage will serve us well in the days ahead.
Being right on most of the issues, both fiscally and morally,
gives us real hope for return to fiscal sanity and our traditional
values.
I would love to help write his inaugural address.
Reaganesque.
One last thing-don't worry about Paul LePage, the kid
"streetfighter" from Lewiston has grown up and certainly
has proven that he knows how to take care of himself.
Bon chance!, Paul.
Don Roberts
Augusta
P.S.
My next campaign assignment has begun as we work as
political consultant/campaign manager to elect "Bill"
Stokes new mayor of Augusta in a special election.
(Unlike Waterville, Augusta's elections are non-partisan).
Stokes is a city councilor and as a deputy attorney general-
is Maine's chief criminal prosecutor.
Senator-Elect Roger Katz (whose campaign we advised)
is stepping down to move to the senate.
