One legislator who won’t join the 2nd District scramble is House Republican Leader Kenneth Fredette of Newport, who announced Friday that he will not seek the GOP nomination.

Shortly after singing the National Anthem to open Friday’s session of the Maine House, Cain, a Democrat from Orono, released a statement detailing her plans to run for Michaud’s seat. She has filed as a candidate with the Federal Elections Commission.

“During my nine years in the Legislature I have fought to protect and create jobs, make college more affordable, increase accountability in government, and support Maine workers and their families,” she said. “I will take those same priorities with me when I go to Washington.”

Cain served eight years in the Maine House, including as the minority leader in 2011-12, before successfully winning a Senate seat in November 2012. That experience, plus her tenure on the influential budget-writing Appropriations Committee, have elevated her prominence in the State House.

She briefly flirted with a run for the 2nd District seat in 2012, when Michaud contemplated campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat that opened when Sen. Olympia Snowe abruptly announced her plans to retire. Cain’s congressional aspirations again hinge on Michaud’s decision to seek another office although she seems quite certain his “exploratory” gubernatorial campaign will become a full-blown quest for the Blaine House. Her congressional candidacy announcement states that she decided to run for Congress “following news that Congressman Mike Michaud is running for governor.”

Another influential State House Democrat, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson of Allagash, is apparently close to adding his name to the list of Democratic primary competitors. Before Michaud publicly dipped his toes into the gubernatorial race, Jackson said he’d seek to become the Senate majority leader after that position’s current occupant, Sen. Seth Goodall of Richmond, resigns to take a job heading the U.S. Small Business Administration’s northeast regional operations.

During this legislative session, with Democrats back in the majority after two years of Republican control, Cain and Jackson have offered contrasting styles. Jackson has been an outspoken and frequent critic of Republican Gov. Paul LePage, while Cain worked largely behind the scenes to forge delicate compromises that resulted in the Appropriations Committee’s unanimous support for a $6.3 billion biennial budget the Legislature sent Thursday night to LePage.

Cain and Jackson are among many Maine political figures seeking to seize the rare opportunity to run for an open congressional seat. Bangor City Councilor Joe Baldacci, brother of the former 2nd District congressman and Gov. John Baldacci, told the Bangor Daily News on Thursday that he’s likely to run.

Other Democrats whose names are floating around include Assistant Maine House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan and former legislator and current Secretary of State Matt Dunlap.

Prominent Republicans who quickly expressed interest in the 2nd District seat include former state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin, state Sen. Garrett Mason of Lisbon Falls, Assistant House Republican Leader Alex Willette of Mapleton and former House Republican Leader Josh Tardy of Newport.

Blaine Richardson, a tea party adherent who lost to Kevin Raye in the 2012 GOP primary, is considered a likely representative of the libertarian wing of the party.

Topping off a frenetic week, Fredette spiked rumors that he would join the 2nd District field. Serving his second term in the Maine House, he gained some national notoriety earlier this week when he used references from the 1992 relationship guide, “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus” during a floor speech to explain why his “man brain” thinking led him to oppose a plan to have Maine expand Medicaid eligibility as allowed by the federal Affordable Care Act. Fredette subsequently apologized.

He has frequently criticized the political climate in Washington, including during a House floor speech Thursday in which he voiced support for a compromise state budget, emphasizing that “this is not Washington.” Those references, and the spotlight he’s gained as House Republican leader, led many to speculate that Fredette aspires to seek federal office. That won’t be the case in 2014.

“With a daughter starting her first year of college, a son starting his freshman year of high school in the fall, and a wife dedicated to teaching her first grade class here in Maine, now is not the time for me to run for Congress,” he said in a prepared statement. “I will instead focus on my family, my law practice, my district, and the important matters before the Maine Legislature.”

In 2002, the last time the 2nd District race lacked an incumbent, six Democrats and four Republicans competed in primaries for the seat that Michaud eventually won in a general election contest against Kevin Raye, whom he defeated in a 2012 rematch.

– Robert Long

Some are technical changes, but many cover familiar ground and mark final attempts by individual lawmakers to accomplish goals they outlined in unsuccessful legislation earlier this year.

Here are some highlights:

Rep. Lawrence Lockman, R-Amherst, has proposed five amendments, some of which were included in a budget plan he introduced earlier this month with 13 other conservative GOP lawmakers.

They would eliminate state Medicaid coverage for methadone-based treatments for drug addictions, cut $14 million annually from the budget of the state’s Office of Information Technology, and require the state provide services to people with developmental disabilities who are currently on waiting lists. He’s also proposing to eliminate clean elections funding — which has already been reduced in the budget proposal — and impose a 2 percent “economic crisis assessment” on large nonprofit organizations with more than $200,000 in annual receipts and more than $500,000 in assets.

Lockman proposed legislation earlier this year to eliminate MaineCare funding for methadone treatments, and the proposal failed in the Democratically controlled Legislature. The proposal to eliminate the state waiting list for services would cost more than $45 million annually. The wait list issue has been at the forefront of Republican opposition to expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. Rep. Deborah Sanderson, R-Chelsea, tried unsuccessfully Wednesday to add the wait list funding to the Medicaid expansion bill.

An amendment from Rep. Peter Johnson, R-Greenville, would remove $1.5 million from general purpose education aid and use the money to fund an education priority of Gov. Paul LePage’s: creating an Office of School Accountability and Support to target funding toward struggling schools. Appropriations Committee members removed LePage’s funding for that office and used it for general public school funding.

Assistant House Minority Leader Alex Willette, R-Mapleton, is proposing an amendment that would counteract a portion of a comprehensive energy bill that passed the House and Senate last week with broad support. His amendment would remove the Public Utilities Commission’s authority to levy a “systems benefit charge” on electric ratepayers that funds energy and conservation programs administered by the Efficiency Maine Trust. The energy efficiency portions of the bill rankled a number of Republicans and have been opposed by LePage.

Another Willette amendment proposes to eliminate MaineCare funding for transportation that allows patients to get to their methadone- and Suboxone-based treatments for drug addictions.

Also on the Republican side, Sen. Doug Thomas of Ripley proposes to remove about $75 million from revenue sharing with towns and cities and use it to increase the homestead exemption — which currently exempts the first $10,000 of residents’ property value from taxes — to $25,000 and reimburse municipalities for 100 percent, rather than the current 50 percent, of lost revenue.

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Henry Beck, D-Waterville, wants to raise the state sales tax to 6 percent — the budget would already push it to 5.5 percent for two years — and use the added revenue to increase revenue sharing payments for towns and cities. While the Appropriations Committee budget deal restores some revenue sharing funds, which LePage proposed to eliminate entirely, towns and cities would still sustain a cut.

Rep. Peter Stuckey, D-Portland, has an amendment that would accomplish the goals of a “tax fairness” bill submitted earlier this session by House Majority Leader Seth Berry of Bowdoinham. The amendment would charge those making $250,000 and paying less than the statewide average effective tax rate an “equalization assessment” to bring their tax rate into line.

Also from the Democratic side, Rep. Andrew McLean of Gorham has an amendment that would raise the state’s $2-a-pack cigarette tax by 3 cents and use the revenue to fund the Maine Seed Capital Tax Credit program for small Maine businesses. Lawmakers previously rejected other attempts to raise tobacco taxes.

During a speech on the House floor Wednesday morning, the Newport representative compared the debate on Medicaid expansion to insights gleaned from the 1992 relationship guide, “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.”

“It really talks about the way that men and women can do a better job at communicating,” Fredette said. “Because if you listen to the debate today, in my mind, a man’s mind, I hear really two fundamental issues. From the other side of the aisle, I hear the conversation being about ‘free.’ ‘This is free; we need to take it; and it’s free, and we need to do it now,’ and that’s sort of the fundamental message that my brain receives. Now my brain, being a man’s brain, sort of thinks differently because I say, ‘Well, it’s not, if it’s free, is it really free?’ because I say, in my brain, there’s a cost to this.”

The Maine People’s Alliance, a liberal activist group, quickly condemned Fredette’s comments. The group’s health care organizer, Jennie Pirkl, said in a statement it was “incredibly distasteful for him to use offensive, gender-based stereotypes to advance his anti-health care agenda.”

“It was one of the most offensive speeches I’ve ever heard in the House,” said Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland. “I thought this was 2013, not 1813.”

Fredette later apologized for his comments on the House floor as the chamber started an afternoon session. A spokesman for Fredette referred a reporter to that apology, which he called “unequivocal.”

Rep. Sharri MacDonald, R-Old Orchard Beach, said later on the House floor she wasn’t offended by Fredette’s comments.

The biggest issues — votes on Medicaid expansion, repaying the hospital debt and the two-year budget that must be in place by July 1 to avoid a state government shutdown — remain to be decided as lawmakers chew through other pieces of legislation at an accelerated pace.

The packed schedule didn’t stifle debate or requests for roll-call votes, as decisions made now will become the foundation for legislative campaigns in 2014.

Here are some of Monday’s key House actions:

– For the second time in a week, the House rejected a proposal to allow Maine voters to elect the attorney general. Last week, the House and Senate both voted down a bill that would have triggered a statewide referendum on whether to elect the attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer by popular vote. On Monday, the House voted 84-53 against a separate bill, LD 740, which calls for Maine to elect its attorney general to a four-year term in a nonpartisan statewide election.

Rep. Justin Chenette, D-Saco, again argued vociferously to change Maine’s current system, in which the Legislature elects constitutional officers to two-year terms to one in which the state’s voters elect the attorney general. Noting that 43 states let voters elect their attorneys general, Chenette described Maine as an “outlier” on the issue.

“I think we all agree the attorney general should be an apolitical or nonpartisan position,” Rep. Brian Jones, D-Freedom, said in support of Chenette’s position.

Lawmakers who spoke against the change said that the absence of Maine Clean Election Act financing would increase the likelihood that lobbyists would spend heavily to fund and influence candidates for Maine’s top legal position.

The Senate voted 18-17 against the bill last week.

– The House on Monday killed a bill that would have allowed trained employees to carry concealed weapons in Maine schools as a way to promote public safety. House members voted 86-54 Monday to accept the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee’s “ought not to pass” recommendation on LD 1429. The Senate voted 19-14 against the bill on June 4.

– The House supported a measure that would exempt from public disclosure laws the email addresses of people who receive meeting cancellations, payment notifications and other non-interactive electronic transmissions from government entities. After overwhelmingly rejecting an amendment that would add newsletters to the list of documents for which recipients’ emails would be shielded, the House passed an amended version of LD 104 without a roll-call vote. The amendment removes a section of the bill that would have allowed government entities to base fees for processing Maine Freedom of Access Act records requests on the wages of employees who would prepare those records.

– After lengthy debate in which Aroostook County lawmakers asked their peers from other parts of the state to let stand changes to the state’s mining laws passed last year, primarily to accommodate Canada-based Irving Corp.’s potential interest in pursuing a 600-acre open-pit copper and zinc mine on Aroostook County’s Bald Mountain, the House voted 105-34 to accept the Environmental and Natural Resource’s Committee’s “ought not to pass” recommendation on LD 1059. The bill, sponsored by independent Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland, would repeal the changes made last year, effective June 1, 2014.

Other lawmakers who opposed LD 1059 suggested that another bill that won House approval last week, LD 1302, would better address environmental concerns.

– The House voted 86-54 against LD 162, a bill that called for the repeal of the Maine Certificate of Need Act of 2002, a program that requires hospitals to gain state approval for major projects.

– After a long debate Monday afternoon, the House endorsed LD 1409, a bill that would provide a refundable income tax credit as an incentive for film making in Maine. The tax would be in effect through 2017. The bill now moves to the Senate.

– Without a roll-call vote, the House passed LD 1143, an amended bill that would require school districts to offer all-day kindergarten by the 2017-18 academic year.

– Robert Long

Woods, who filed with the Maine Ethics Commission as a candidate for governor in January, planned to make his case for a Michaud candidacy deadline during a Tuesday evening meeting of the Auburn Democratic Committee. But Woods’ bigger goal, he said Tuesday by phone, is that Maine Democratic Party leaders take steps to ensure that the 2014 gubernatorial nomination process highlights the party’s commitment to competence, not simply name recognition.

After faring poorly in the 2010 governor’s race and in the 2012 U.S.Senate race, Maine Democrats have made it their priority to nominate a strong gubernatorial candidate in 2014 to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage and, probably, independent Eliot Cutler. Michaud, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and former Gov. John Baldacci all expressed interest, but Pingree chose not to run for governor and Baldacci continues to await Michaud’s decision.

So does Woods, which the businessman and Yarmouth Town Council chairman says frustrates him and puts his campaign at a disadvantage. Woods said he’s met with Baldacci, Michaud and Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant and agreed to drop out of the race if Pingree or Michaud had declared as candidates before March 15.

Woods said that Michaud told him in April that he needed a “few more weeks” to decide on a gubernatorial run. A month and a half later, that decision hasn’t come, and Woods wants party leaders to prod Michaud.

“While Gov. LePage continues his path of political destruction and Eliot Cutler builds his campaign machine, my friends in the Democratic Party are sitting back, hoping that Mike Michaud runs,” Woods said.

That waiting game places political strategy over principles, potentially harming any Democrat who runs, Woods said.

“Now it’s a strategic game of who is best situated to win or lose, not who’s most competent to run the state,” Woods said.

The Maine Democratic Party should encourage Michaud to run, Woods said, but the party also should seek out and support other qualified candidates to create a dynamic nomination fight that will yield the best candidate. Woods suggests the June 10 deadline for a Michaud decision because it’s exactly a year before the 2014 party primary.

“Let’s take the next year to let candidates engage the public in respectful discussion and debate,” Woods said. “Then as a party let’s vote, as opposed to three or four party leaders deciding a year and a half before the election who they will anoint. I am asking party leaders not to show favoritism or undermine other candidates and to, in effect, support all candidates. If we reduce ourselves to pettiness, then we are no better than the dysfunctional person who now occupies the Blaine House.”

Lizzy Reinholt, a spokeswoman for the Maine Democratic Party, said the organization strives to treat all candidates fairly, but that it would not be appropriate to impose deadlines, other than those required by law, on any candidates.

“Obviously running for governor is a personal decision only [Michaud] can make on his own. When Mike makes that decision is not something we have control over. We have been speaking to him and other potential candidates. We are excited to see how the race shapes up so we can run a strong campaign against Gov. LePage and ensure we send a Democrat to the Blaine House in 2014.”

Woods’ gubernatorial campaign is his first bid for statewide office as a Democrat. In 2012, he ran for U.S. Senate as an independent. He withdrew from the race the weekend before Election Day, after previously announcing his support for Angus King, another independent candidate who easily won the election.

– Robert Long

Polls this far before an election offer little more than conversation starters, but the Critical Insights results highlighted the magnitude of Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s influence on Mainers’ attitudes. The survey pegs LePage’s favorability rating at 37 percent, down 5 percentage points from last fall and 10 points from his high mark in fall 2011.

The highest percentage of respondents who believe Maine is headed in the right direction attributed that positive change to LePage. Likewise, the highest percentage of those who believe Maine is on the wrong track identified LePage as the cause. Dissatisfaction with his job performance jumped from 47 percent in fall 2012 to 53 percent now, the poll shows.

“Typically Mainers don’t put as much emphasis on the executive,” said MaryEllen FitzGerald, president of Critical Insights. “It’s interesting that there’s so much focus. He’s that kind of personality and is so much out front.”

But he’s not much out front in a hypothetical three-way race for governor.

The phone survey of 600 self-identified registered Maine voters between May 1 and May 7 also asked respondents to say who they’d vote for in a three-way contest between LePage, independent Eliot Cutler and an unnamed Democrat. In that scenario, support for LePage registered 30 percent, while Cutler notched 28 percent and the unnamed Democrat 16 percent.

Strikingly, 21 percent of respondents answered “don’t know” and 4 percent said “none of the above,” which creates the potential for a fiercely contested general election next year, according FitzGerald.

Republicans and Democrats questioned whether the results give an accurate preview of next year’s election.

“I don’t discuss internal polls publically, but these numbers are not even mildly on the same planet from numbers I have seen recently from a qualified professional polling firm,” said Brent Littlefield, LePage’s political adviser. “The governor’s standing is quite strong in the state of Maine today.”

Littlefield said voters and political observers should be wary of “free” polls like those conducted by Critical Insights.

FitzGerald said her firm is not affiliated with any of the candidates and that the results released Wednesday are part of semi-annual public opinion tracking that Critical Insights has done for almost two decades. She acknowledged that the 2014 gubernatorial candidate question did not offer Steve Woods, the only declared Democratic candidate, as an option and that the timing of the poll made it more a snapshot of the level of current support for LePage and Cutler than a predictor of next year’s results. However, it helps define the Democrats’ core base of support, she said.

“What it did show us was that one out of every six voters would vote for a Democrat regardless of who the party nominates,” she said.

Democrats saw it differently — as an indication that Cutler can’t win.

“This is a kind of ridiculous poll question,” said Lizzy Reinholt, a spokeswoman for the Maine Democratic Party. “You have two declared candidates who are actively campaigning against an unknown Democrat. That doesn’t carry much weight. If anything it just proves what we’ve been saying all along, Eliot Cutler can’t win this race. Even against Gov. LePage and some hypothetical unknown he can’t even get more than 30 percent.”

Ted O’Meara, a spokesman for Cutler, characterized that interpretation as “wishful thinking.”

Democrats continue to await 2nd District U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s decision on whether to run for governor. Previous polls gave Michaud high favorability ratings, leading many to believe that he would be the strongest statewide challenger to LePage and Cutler.

Cutler and LePage have registered as candidates with the Maine Ethics Commission, but neither has formally declared.

O’Meara said it’s not wise to put much stock in early polls, but he said Cutler’s supporters are beginning to discern a pattern.

“In two consecutive polls, [Cutler] is showing up as the strongest alternative to the Gov. LePage,” O’Meara said referring to a Pan Atlantic SMS poll that in early April showed Cutler in a close race with LePage and a variety of potential Democratic candidates.

Critical Insights lists the margin of error at plus or minus 4 percent. Other intriguing findings include:

– The percentage of respondents who believe the economy worsened during the past 12 months is the lowest in 12 years, according to FitzGerald. “There’s some guarded but solid optimism about the economy,” she said.

– Respondents are less optimistic in general about the state’s prospects. The percentage of those who said Maine is generally headed in the right direction declined from 42 percent in fall 2012 to 30 percent in May 2013.

– President Barack Obama’s favorability rating in Maine dropped during the past six months to a point where it’s lower in Maine than it is nationally, That doesn’t surprise FitzGerald, who attributes it in part to “typical Maine lack of exuberance.” However, the polling occurred before controversies over Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative political groups and the Benghazi embassy attacks enveloped the administration.

– U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who is up for re-election in 2014, remains hugely popular, with an approval rating of 68 percent. New Sen. Angus King registers 49 percent approval, with 36 percent saying they don’t know how to rate him and 15 percent expressing disapproval.

– A third of those polled say that the Boston Marathon bombings make them more likely to support stronger enforcement of immigration laws. FitzGerald said that constitutes a significant swing in public opinion.

View the survey results here.

– Robert Long

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced Friday that it would begin running online ads urging U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud to return campaign contributions he received from a political action committee affiliated with the union that represents IRS workers. The committee paid for ads on Facebook and StumbleUpon, Ian Prior, northeast regional press secretary for the NRCC, said in a statement Friday. Michaud is one of several Democrats targeted by NRCC ads that urge constituents to insist that they return contributions from “the scandal ridden IRS’s union.”

The effort to link Michaud to the IRS controversy is a stretch. The ads refer to campaign contributions made between 2002 and 2012 by the National Treasury Employees Political Action Committee. The National Treasury Employees Union represents IRS employees. It also represents employees of more than 20 other federal agencies, ranging from the Food and Drug Administration to the National Park Service.

Michaud, a Democrat who is serving his sixth term representing Maine’s 2nd U.S. House District, has said he’s contemplating a run for governor in 2014. He’s generally considered the party’s strongest candidate to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage and independent Eliot Cutler in a 2014 gubernatorial contest. Other Democrats, including former Gov. John Baldacci, are awaiting Michaud’s decision before determining whether to run.

But the NRCC ads, which show a donkey and an eagle with the letters IRS underneath it inside a heart, seem more focused on positioning the GOP to rally its base for the 2014 mid-term congressional elections than to influence Maine’s gubernatorial race.

“Mike Michaud faked outrage over the IRS scandal to win political points with voters, all while hoping people would overlook the $12,700 in campaign cash he received from the scandal ridden IRS’s union. It’s time for Mike Michaud to do the right thing and give back this tainted money,” Prior said in the statement.

The generally soft-spoken Michaud is not known to show public outrage, fake or otherwise. In a prepared statement he issued Wednesday on the IRS controversy, Michaud said, “These actions deserve a critical review, and investigations by both law enforcement and Congress are clearly warranted. A federal agency targeting organizations based on ideology is outrageous and unacceptable. These investigations must proceed with two goals: figuring out exactly what happened and how we can prevent such incidents from happening again.”

The Federal Election Commission’s website shows that the PAC has donated heavily to Democratic candidates for federal office, including Maine Democrats Tom Allen and Chellie Pingree, for more than a decade. However, it also has given money to Republicans, including former Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, Arizona Sen. John McCain and New York U.S. Rep. Peter King.

The National Treasury Employees Political Action Committee also donated $5,000 in October 2012 to independent Angus King, who easily won a five-person race to succeed Snowe.

Michaud, a former mill worker, has garnered and shown strong support from organized labor throughout his political career. He was not immediately available Friday to comment on the NRCC ads.

– Robert Long

One bill, LD 1406, proposed hiking the state cigarette tax from $2 to $3.50 per pack. A second bill, LD 1326, aimed to increase the tax on all tobacco products, including cigars, rolling tobacco and chewing tobacco, to an equivalent of the cigarette tax

Both bills focused on reducing tobacco use by young people in Maine. They were introduced as emergency measures, meaning they would take effect July 1 if passed. With a unanimous committee recommendation against them, that’s highly unlikely.

Educators, health-care providers and public health advocates testified in favor of the bills during a May 6 public hearing, arguing that raising taxes is a proven way to discourage youth smoking and generate revenue for anti-smoking and wellness programs. They noted that all six New England states are considering cigarette tax increases, and that Maine’s tax is lower than every New England state except New Hampshire.

Representatives of convenience stores and grocers spoke in opposition to the bills, contending that higher cigarette taxes would drive smokers who also buy gas, food and other items at their stores to New Hampshire, the Internet or the black market in search of cheaper tobacco products. That, in turn, would harm small businesses that are already struggling, they said.

During brief discussion before the votes, a number of committee members shared stories about their experiences with family members who died from tobacco-related diseases. But when it came time to vote, all 10 committee members present supported an “ought not to pass” recommendation proposed by Sen. Doug Thomas, R-Ripley.

On Wednesday, Republican Gov. Paul LePage issued a statement affirming his opposition to raising taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The statement said the governor’s office had received angry calls from constituents based on outdated stickers placed on tobacco products by a group opposed to the tax increases.

“My position is clear. I do not support new taxes on tobacco nor have I ever,” LePage said in the statement.

Republican votes against the bills are consistent with the party’s stance against tax increases and the belief that higher taxes won’t act as a deterrent to tobacco use, as Rep. Roger Jackson, R-Oxford, said during Tuesday’s committee meeting.

However, Democrats have supported so-called “sin taxes” in the past, so their reluctance to recommend passage of the two bills Tuesday might signal that, with little more than a month until the legislative session is scheduled to adjourn, they don’t want to provide Republicans with any new fodder for a looming debate about how targeted tax increases could be used to fund municipal revenue sharing and still pass a balanced state budget for the two-year cycle that begins July 1.

– Robert Long

Eliot Cutler (Gabor Degre | BDN)

Independent Eliot Cutler, who lost a close race to Republican Gov. Paul LePage in 2010, is “considerably closer to making a formal announcement later this year” that he will run for governor again in 2014, according to an email issued Thursday by his campaign organization.

The email states that Cutler has been meeting with Mainers and raising money for a 2014 campaign.

“No one wants to avoid a repeat of 2010 more than I do, and I will run only if I can win a three-way race. So far everything suggests that I can,” wrote Cutler, who surged past Democrat Elizabeth Mitchell late during the 2010 election, but fell less than 2 percentage points short of LePage.

LePage hasn’t formally announced his re-election plans, but he told a chamber of commerce gathering Wednesday in Portland that he’s likely to seek a second term.

Democrats vow to nominate a strong candidate to challenge LePage and Cutler. They are eagerly awaiting a decision from 2nd District U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud on whether he’ll run. Former Gov. John Baldacci has said he would consider another run at the Blaine House if Michaud or 1st District U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree didn’t seek the party’s nomination.

Pingree announced last month that she will not run for governor in 2014.

At present, Yarmouth businessman Steve Woods is the only Democrat to declare as a candidate for governor.

– Robert Long

The problem? The senator from Augusta would have to miss every Senate session that fell on the same day as a weekday Red Sox game, and Senate President Justin Alfond, D-Portland, wasn’t having it.

Katz, a diehard Red Sox fan, pleaded with Senate Democrats in an email to lobby Alfond to excuse Katz’s Sox-related absences:

I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime that I just don’t think I can pass up. The public address announcer for the Red Sox at Fenway Park just quit on Friday and I got a call from Tom Werner, one of the owners. We went to college at Harvard together and have stayed in touch since. He asked me if I wanted to audition for the job so I went down there yesterday and it went well, so they offered me the job. For games during the week, I just won’t be able to make session, but that is only about half the time.  President Alfond is not agreeing to excuse me from votes when I am away, which I think is unfair; one wonders if he would have the same position were I a Democrat. I am asking each of you to please drop him a note to see if he will change his mind.

To add to the twist, the message to Senate Democrats from Katz came in an email from Ericka Dodge, Alfond’s communications director, who said she was jockeying for the job as Katz’s 2014 campaign manager:

Please see below for a communique from Sen. Roger Katz. He has asked me to forward this along to all of you so that you can be made aware of an impending issue. Many of you may know that as a result of the work done on the Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future, my confidence in Sen. Katz’s leadership has grown. To that end, as his prospective campaign manager for his 2014 race, I think it is important that the issue below find quick resolution.

As much as Katz would like this Red Sox dream to come true, the only announcing he’s likely to be doing in the near future is how he plans to vote on contentious legislation.

The Maine Senate wasn’t the only political body to engage in an April Fools’ Day prank. The White House on Monday morning posted a “Special Message from the President” that featured a video of Kid President at the White Housing briefing room podium.