This Splendid Game: Maine Campaigns and Elections, 1940-2002 / Edition 1

by Christian P. Potholm

Overview

Scholar and avid campaign watcher Christian P. Potholm brings to bear his enthusiasm for politics, and his intricate understanding of campaign strategy, in This Splendid Game: Maine Campaigns and Elections, 1940-2002. For each decade covered, Potholm briefly outlines all of Maine's U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and gubernatorial elections, then delves deeper into one campaign. He examines how Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman elected to the Senate, in 1948. He looks into which factors enabled the 'Muskie revolution,' beginning when Maine's long-in-power Republican party lost the governorship to the Democrat Ed Muskie in 1954, and cresting in the Democrat Ken Curtis's hard-fought gubernatorial re-election victory in 1970. He explores how the Republican counter-revolution took hold when Bill Cohen was elected to Congress in 1972, after having won many voters by walking about 600 miles across the state; and why in 1974 and 1994 Mainers chose Independent governors, respectively James Longley, Sr., and Angus King. And he examines how the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant survived the 1980 referendum on its possible shut-down. Throughout the book, Potholm focuses especially on the dynamics of candidates' and groups' use of polling and the media. This Splendid Game yields valuable insights into politics in Maine and the art of the political campaign.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739106044
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	04/02/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	5.72(w) x 9.12(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Christian P. Potholm is Professor of Government at Bowdoin College. He is the author of An Insider's Guide to Maine Politics (Madison Books, 1998) and The Delights of Democracy: The Triumph of American Politics (Cooper Square Press, 2002).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 This Splendid Game Chapter 2 The 1940s: Margaret Chase Smith vs. Adrian Scolten Chapter 3 The 1950s: Edmund S. Muskie vs. Burton M. Cross Chapter 4 The 1960s: Kenneth M. Curtis vs. James S. Erwin Chapter 5 The 1970s: William S. Cohen vs. Elmer Violette Chapter 6 The 1980s: The Maine Yankee Referendum Chapter 7 The 1990s: Angus King vs. Joseph E. Brennan vs. Susan Collins Chapter 8 The Case for Campaigns

Editorial Reviews

This Splendid Game is a splendid analysis.

Bangor Daily News

Packed with vibrant analysis.

Portland Press Herald

For the scholar and the casual observer of political dynamics alike, reading This Splendid Game is time well invested.

The Times Record

Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

No one can write about Maine politics from quite the vantage point that Chris Potholm has. This Splendid Game is a fascinating read.

L Sandy Maisel

Chris Potholm's This Splendid Game gives specialists and general readers something that is long overdue—a detailed and incisive analysis of modern political campaigns in Maine by a scholar who has studied, taught, and worked in most of them.

Christopher M. Beam

Maine's Foremost Political Guru!

Kennebec Journal

No man or woman should step out onto the campaign trail without reading Potholm's excellent analysis of the Maine campaigns and politics since 1940.. .. Whether you pick up This Splendid Game to plan your run for Congress or just for the intrigue, you will come to believe Potholm's declaration on the first page, 'Politics in Maine is the way politics should be.'

Sun Journal

Potholm once again demonstrates that he is the leading scholar and authority on twentieth-century Maine politics. This Splendid Game fills a significant void in Maine's political historiography.

Greg Gallant

Highly recommended.

Choice

Potholm once again demonstrates that he is the leading scholar and authority on twentieth-century Maine politics. This Splendid Game fills a significant void in Maine's political historiography.--Greg Gallant, director, Margaret Chase Smith Library

No one can write about Maine politics from quite the vantage point that Chris Potholm has. This Splendid Game is a fascinating read.--L Sandy Maisel, Director, Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement, Colby College

Chris Potholm's This Splendid Game gives specialists and general readers something that is long overdue--a detailed and incisive analysis of modern political campaigns in Maine by a scholar who has studied, taught, and worked in most of them.--Christopher M. Beam, Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College

From the Publisher

Highly recommended.

CHOICE