Expectations and the 1994 Maine Elections

The 1994 elections at the national and state level resulted in significant changes all across the political landscape. Bowdoin professor of government Christian Potholm analyzes the nature of that change and its implications forMaine

Interview with Chris Potholm by Andrea L’Hommedieu

Biographical NoteChristian P. Potholm holds a chair in government and legal studies at Bowdoin College. He took his graduate work at Tufts University and specializes in Maine politics, warfare, African politics, and international conflict. He previously taught at Vassar, Dartmouth, and the College of the Virgin Islands. He worked on Harry Richardson’s staff and was Bill Cohen’s campaign manager in 1972; he continued to work for Cohen while also teaching at Bowdoin. He is the author of fourteen books on politics and founded Command Research, a national polling firm, and the Potholm Group, a consulting group that specializes in ballot measure initiatives. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: George Mitchell’s 1974 run for governor of Maine; Potholm’s role working for Harry Richardson in the 1974 campaign; Mitchell’s being appointed to Ed Muskie’s Senate seat in 1980; Mitchell’s reelection campaign against Dave Emery in 1982; the changes Mitchell made in his 1982 campaign from his 1974 campaign; Mitchell’s partisanship compared to Margaret Chase Smith, Ed Muskie, and Bill Cohen; Ed Muskie’s partisanship; Potholm’s position on Bill Cohen’s staff; Mitchell’s and Cohen’s relationship; Mitchell’s 1988 campaign against Jasper Wyman; Mitchell and PAC money; Mitchell’s TV interviewing style; Public Utilities Commission investigation; Potholm’s continuing relationship with Bill Cohen; Bill Cohen’s current projects; and the placement of Cohen’s papers at the University of Maine, Orono

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: An Upriver Passamaquoddy by Allen J. Sockabasin; The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories by Elizabeth A. DeWolfe; American Silk, 1830-1930: Entrepremeurs and Artifacts by Jackqueline Field, Marjorie Senechal and Madelyn Shaw

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: The Penobscot Dance of Resistence: Tradition in the History of a People by Pauleena MacDougall; Maine’s Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of its People by H. H. Price and Gerald E.Talbot; Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists, and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783-1820 by Joshua M. Smith

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: Landscape with Figures: Nature & Culture in New England by Kent C. Ryden; Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century by Joseph A. Conforti. A Good and Wise Measure: the Search for the American-Canadian Boundary, 1783-1842 by Francis M. Carroll. John Ford in Focus: Essays on the Filmmaker’s Life and Work, edited by Kevin L. Stoehr and Michael C. Connolly. Styles Bridges: Yankee Senator by James J. Kiepper. Giving Voters a Voice: The Origins of the Initiative and Referendum in America by Steven L. Piott. Androscoggin County, Maine – 150th: A Pictorial Sesquicentennial History, 1854 – 2004 edited by Michael C. Lord and W. Dennis Stires. Down on the Island, Up on the Main: A Recollected History of South Bristol, Maine compiled and annotated by Ellen Vincen

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: Little Pine to King Spruce: A Franco-American Childhood by Fran Pelletier; This Splendid Game: Maine Campaigns and Elections, 1940-2002 by Christian P. Potholm; Giving Voters a Voice: The Origins of the Initiative and Referendum in America by Steven L. Piott; The Interrupted Forest: A History of Maine\u27s Wildlands by Neil Rold