Republicans Hope to Claim the State's Four Electoral Votes

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AUGUSTA - President Bush's stop in Bangor today arrives at a pivotal moment in his re-election campaign according to one prominent Maine pollster who said Republicans sense the state's four electoral votes could be within reach.

Since 1992, Maine has voted Democratic in presidential elections, but MaryEllen FitzGerald of the Portland-based Critical Insights marketing group said her preliminary analysis reflects an extremely tight race in the state. Although earlier polling indicated a sweep for Democratic nominee Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, FitzGerald said Wednesday that Bush could very well win in Maine's northern 2nd Congressional District and that the southern 1st Congressional District was just too close to call.

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Republicans Hope to Claim the State's Four Electoral Votes

"It's an absolute dead heat here," she said. "My sense is that this election is very much in play."

FitzGerald said the state's controversial ban on bear baiting and a 1 percent property tax cap referendum will attract nume...

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