A Night in a Pub With Gubernatorial Candidate Peter Mills

I'm going to tread lightly in this post and give a second in depth post after tomorrow's BDN is printed so as not to infringe upon the literary reporting of someone who makes a living off doing what I did tonight for nothing more than a glass of water: interviewing a candidate for governor and those around him at a lively pub. Yes, I said pub. No, I did not drink. Yes, I enjoyed meeting many new people and some old friends as well. It was particularly humorous to be the one not to remember faces, instead of the other way around.

After leaving my house and taking a ridiculously long path to get there, so as not to walk past the murder scene on my street from a few nights ago, I finally arrived at the Whig and Currie Pub and Restaurant (?) in downtown. Entering resulted in the surprise that it did not smell overwhelmingly of stale beer. That made the event tolerable.
Finding my place with Nichi Farnham I discussed with her some politics. Moving from there I talked to several others about politics, and also talked with some on-off acquaintances from Peter Mill's campaign. I also spoke with a Mr. Cousins from the Bangor Daily News, and while the liberal (or just vehement hatred of Republicans) within him oozed outward like nuclear radiation it was a rather pleasant conversation in which I watched him ask rather general questions with rather weak follow ups (meaning none at all). So if you read this get a little tougher and think faster on your feet. Also, always get the answer to the question you originally or meant to ask.

Side note: While it may seem...improper to use such a public location to critique one's work I feel there is no better place to discuss something, no matter how trivial, than in the light of day for everyone to walk past carelessly should they lack attachment to such an issue. Your work being regularly published publicly means any observation of your abilities, good or bad, should be done publicly as well. On with the show.

Later that evening I met with a former McCain campaign "boss" who just got back from working with Scott Brown. That was also rather pleasant. Many, except me, had sipped if not consumed entire measurable quantities of alcohol. None were drunk, even the guy sitting next to three empty bottles, so I remained.
A discussion throughout the evening regarded the clean election funding decision. Due to how the system tries to match what a privately funded candidate raises for a clean election funded candidate it was seen as a better option for the local candidates to match Democrats in a decision to go the clean election route. They saw it better to be equal in funds and win on a strong issue/idea/solution base than a monetary edge that would bankrupt the state with clean election opponents. I found this to be an honorable reasoning to the decision to use clean election funding. Peter Mills is a clean election fund candidate. This made the event enlightening of new perspectives.
As the night went on my blog, the one you happen to be reading, became such a topic of discussion that I was interviewed about my blog. I was surprised, unprepared, and on the inside completely regret the cavalier humor I injected to allow my lungs to function as needed in front of the camera. Luckily I survived, didn't say anything too.....damaging, and will see this as an opportunity to remember my speech and debate talent from high school and never say "um" again. I'm not even sure if the video will be put on their website, the details weren't worked out and I failed to give them my phone number. (While I only drank water, my mind was adrenalined beyond planning things by 7:30.)
My former debate career brings me to a little side project I've been working on. The details have not been finalized, but two gubernatorial Public Forum rounds may be arranged between the candidates for governor. Beyond that I am keeping this low key until confirmation of an actual event with a date and time. However, after this evening, things look positive for such an event. This made the event tonight a constructive one.