Republicans change ad traffic to hammer Mills on education.
◉ The latest ad from the Maine Republican Party chiefly hits the governor on two online lessons created by teachers but hosted on an education department website providing optional curriculum for parents and teachers. It had been doing biography ads reintroducing LePage to voters here.
◉ The department removed a lesson on gender identity for aimed at children in preschool through 2nd grade after it was attacked by a conservative Twitter account. Last week, the Mills administration stood by a lesson featuring a video from an outside group calling certain terms examples of "covert racism."
◉ Mills is pushing "a radical education agenda," the ad says. The education department said last week the state will "continue to empower teachers, parents and elected school boards to make their own decisions about public education in Maine, despite attacks like these."
◉ The Maine GOP amounts to an extension of LePage's campaign, which is financially strapped relative to Mills. It is effectively being funded by the Republican Governors Association and has spent $2.2 million so far in the race. Its Democratic counterpart has poured in $3.1 million and counting.
🃏 A retired TV host isn't endorsing in 2022, but he is tipping his hand.
◉ The emcee of the Thursday environmental event featuring Mills was Bill Green, the retired host of an eponymous outdoors show on News Center Maine. After Democrats partially credited his ads for Sen. Susan Collins for her 2020 win, I had to ask him if he was endorsing this time.
◉ "I'm not making any public statements," he said.
◉ But he directed a reporter to Mills' campaign finance filings, which show a $500 contribution from Green this month. During his introduction of the governor, he said he has known her for 40 years, making the legendary local newsman a little bit different than the average swing voter. |
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