scarcelli

Rosa Scarcelli Dives In

By Matthew Gagnon
July 21, 2009

“If we want change, we have to change who we send to Augusta” – so says Rosa Scarcelli, the most recent entrant into the Maine gubernatorial race.  She’ll be facing off with Steve Rowe, who is already being pigeon holed as “more Baldacci”.

Scarcelli (pronounced SCAR-chell-ee) is the owner and CEO of Stanford Management, a company that aims to provide affordable housing to several Maine communities.

She is taking on the role of insurgent outsider, and watching her commercial on her website, it seems clear she went to the Obama school of campaigning – I heard a lot of “hope” and “change” in her message.  Scarcelli is positioning herself as an Augusta outsider who has no connection to the Baldacci administration, while having some experience in the private sector.  If I were a Democrat (which I am not), that would certainly be more interesting to me than Rowe’s experience as Attorney General.

This race is quickly shaping up to be the battle of the outsiders, as all three front-runners for the Republican nomination are non-politicians with business experience, and now here comes Scarcelli on the Democratic side as well.

Scarchelli‘s website is a little odd – not because it looks bad (its decent enough), but more because its color scheme looks like something out of a political race in Virginia with its orange and blue accents (something very common down here in my neck of the woods).  Usually in Maine you see variations of blue and green – so it looks a tad out of place, but then again should I really be picking on color schemes?  No – its effective for this point in the game, and kudos to her for having a video up on the splash page.

She also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, so I will soon have to do a “round two” on my previous story about the social media war for Governor.  Seems to me she has herself set up well to mount an insurgent campaign, so we shall see how her battle with Rowe develops over the coming months.

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6 Responses to “Rosa Scarcelli Dives In”

  1. Derek Viger

    21. Jul, 2009

    I can’t stand that color scheme! It’s a bit like a high school’s team colors. But it is impressive Scarchelli came right out of the gate with a proper website ready to go. Rowe has yet to put up something comparable to his major party competitors. He seems to be holding back at this point. Resting on the fact that his name recognition gives him a little PR boost perhaps? Aside from that name, Rowe seems to being doing little to get visible.

    There will be a few questions Democrats will need to ask themselves before the upcoming primary: Is Steve Rowe too close to the old guard to win the state or does his experience and name carry him? Is an Augusta outsider a safer bet? No one in any party has a lock at this point.

  2. Matthew Gagnon

    21. Jul, 2009

    No, they certainly don’t. Personally I think Steve Rowe is the front-runner, but I don’t think that is a good thing to be for this race. He’s just too vulnerable in both the primary AND the general… I think Scarcelli could probably take him out, and I honestly think any one of the Republicans could nail him in the general… he’s just too close to Baldacci, and people are kind of tired of that right now.

    But anyway, back to what matters – that color scheme!! :-) Seriously though, living in Northern Virginia like I do now… ALL I see is orange and blue for political candidates… I saw her site and forgot what state I was looking at.

  3. Augusta Insider

    21. Jul, 2009

    I wouldn’t characterize the Republicans currently in the race as “front-runners”, just “early-runners”. If Josh Tardy, Peter Mills, and/or Kevin Raye jump in, in nine months we’ll all be trying to remember their names.

  4. Matthew Gagnon

    21. Jul, 2009

    Perhaps I should have said “current” front runners, instead.

    While I do agree that if the heavyweights jump in, it does put them on a slightly higher level, I wouldn’t characterize them as “fading away into the darkness” if that were to happen. I happen to think that this is a cycle that will be friendly to the outsiders, personally.

  5. Derek Viger

    21. Jul, 2009

    I’d like to think this race will be friendly to outsiders only because that would be more interesting to cover. Dark horses make better stories. I at least hope the candidates will be more exciting than Baldy B. I think I saw someone say that CSPAN at 3 AM was more riveting than Baldacci.

  6. Derek Viger

    23. Jul, 2009

    I apologize for that dig on Baldacci. I broke my own rules about keeping debates serious. No more late night commenting for me.

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