Alex Isenstadt's blog

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe: Getty Images PhotoPHILADELPHIA – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe acknowledged here today that Senate Republicans faced a difficult environment heading into the fall’s elections.

“Obviously it is a challenging climate,” she said. “Obviously it is real raw and it is challenging.”

Snowe, a three-term Republican Senator from Maine who is known for having an independent streak, suggested that Republican candidates could best weather the storm by communicating to voters what they have accomplished.

Snowe pointed to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is facing a re-election challenge from Democrat U.S. Rep. Tom Allen. Recent polls have shown Collins with a commanding lead.

“(Collins) is independent-minded in her approach and is working on the issues that are important to the state,” said Snowe. “People reward that.”

The Portland Press Herald has declared Tom Allen the victor in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, and Chellie Pingree and Charlie Summers the winners in the Congressional District 1 primaries.

EARLIER on PolitickerME.com:

• Early returns show Allen, Pingree, Summers leading

UPDATE, 11:22 p.m. | According to the Bangor Daily News, with 37 percent of the vote counted in the race for Senate District 8, Anne M. Rand leads with 45 percent of the vote. Justin L. Alfond and Clifford M. Ginn trail with 37 percent and 16 percent of the vote, respectively.

UPDATE, 11:22 p.m. | According to the Bangor Daily News, with 75 percent of the vote counted, Peter Stuckey leads Justin Costa in the race for State House District 114 by a margin of 52 percent to 47 percent.

Diane Marie Russell-Natera leads Edward J. Democracy by a margin of 63 percent to 36 percent in the State House District 120 race.

See the Bangor Daily News for more results.

Congressional candidate Chellie PingreeUPDATED, 11:22 p.m. | The Bangor Daily News reports that U.S. Rep. Tom Allen is leading Tom Ledue in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. With 75 percent of the vote counted, Allen has 85 percent of the vote in to Ledue’s 14 percent.

In the Democratic primary for the U.S. House race for the 1st Congressional District, Chellie Pingree leads with 44 percent. Adam Cote, Ethan Strimling, and Michael Brennan trail with 26 percent, 12 percent, and 11 percent, respectively,

In the Republican primary for the 1st district seat, Charlie Summers leads Dean Scontras by a 59 percent to 40 percent margin.

For more, see the Bangor Daily News.

First District Democratic candidate Ethan Strimling has signed the “Change Congress” pledge “to reform the way Washington does business,” joining four other congressional candidates, including Tennessee incumbent Representative Jim Cooper.  read more »

Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky campaigned for District 1 Democratic candidate Chellie Pingree in Portland Thursday, focusing her remarks on health care.

“Clearly the health-care system is broken,” Schakowsky said, “and if we’re going to fix it, we’re going to need people in Congress who are willing to stand up to the drug companies and who are willing to stand up to the insurance companies. Chellie Pingree is exactly that kind of person.”

WASHINGTON -- When Arizonans opened the pages of the Arizona Republic on Veterans Day in November, there was a good chance they saw a full page advertisement taking aim at Democratic U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell for his vote in support of a bill that included a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. The advertisement featured a letter from injured Iraq veteran Andrew Robinson, pictured seated in a wheelchair.

Strimling appealed.

Real ID was a focus.

Frary made the ballot.

CD1 candidates debated.

Collins and Allen dueled over voting records.

Corey Hascall, campaign manager for First District Democratic congressional candidate Ethan Strimling, sent out an email Wednesday congratulating supporters for raising $8,000 in the first two days of its end-of-the first quarter fundraising drive.

“When Ethan and I talked about our last fundraising goal and he told me we were shooting for $25,000, I had my doubts, but you've certainly erased them,” Hascall writes.