Pine Tree Politics

Steve Rowe Running For Governor

By Matthew Gagnon
December 8, 2008

Tweet

Its official – sort of.

Steven Rowe is running for Governor, however it appears as though Rowe does not have any plans for an official announcement.

None the less he is for all intents and purposes considered “in” as his statement from last week indicates.

“I definitely plan to run for governor in 2010,” Rowe made clear last week. “I don’t have a specific date to formally announce or start the campaign. I’ve been talking to people for many months across the state. I’m excited and looking forward to running.”

This was hardly a surprise given that we have known Rowe was very interested in the job for at least the past year. This confirmation does, however mark the first quasi-confirmed contender for the 2010 race, although we most certainly believe others will not be far behind in making their names heard.

Rowe has been preparing for a while – he is on Facebook with 210 supporters, and also happens to have at least two website parked for his run – here and here.

And so begins the 2010 cycle in Maine.

But just who is Steven Rowe?

Rowe attended West Point, graduating in 1975. Afterward, he obtained his his MBA from the University of Utah in 1978 and his JD from the University of Maine School of Law in 1987.

He started off as an officer in the US Army Reserve before moving into the private sector to work for Fairchild Semiconductor in the early 1980s. Afterward, Rowe served as a litigation Counsel for UNUM Provident for 12 years.

In 1992, Rowe was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, where he would eventually rise to the speaker’s chair. In 2001, he was elected Attorney General, a position he served in until Janet Mills took over for him last week.

This likely starts off our conversations about “who’s in, and who’s out”. One such “out” is former r congressman Tom Allen – much to the chagrin to the folks at Swing State Project who appear to know about as much about Maine politics as my two year old, and have spent the majority of their time arguing about the merits of Mr. Allen.

The Portland Press Herald ran a good story today about the gubernatorial race, breaking down who’s name has been dropped as a possible candidate for both sides. Of note on the Herald’s list:

DEMOCRATS

• John Richardson
• Laura Fortman
• Patrick K. McGowan
• Bill Diamond
• Beth Edmonds
• Glenn Cummings

REPUBLICANS

• Peter Mills
• Joshua Tardy
• Matt Jacobson
• Steve Abbott
• Kevin Hancock
• Les Otten
• Peter Vigue

The list is obviously incomplete as more people have been widely discussed (two glaring examples that I noticed), but its certainly a good start. Pine Tree Politics will be doing a detailed analysis of the contenders in the coming weeks.

Tags: 2010 Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, 2010 Gubernatorial Race, Pat McGowan, Steve Rowe