Who’s jockeying for a head start in the race to become Maine’s next governor?

The behind-the-scenes campaign for the Blaine House in 2018 has begun, with Republicans waiting to see if federal officeholders jump in, Democrats looking early at a potential insider-outsider race and independents mulling bids. It's a race that could reshape Maine, with the term-limited Paul LePage leaving the governorship in 2019, eight years after taking office in a historic year for Republicans that set Democrats back after 40 years in which they largely controlled state government.

Maine congressional delegation visits New Balance factory

The director of manufacturing at New Balance says a "Made-in-USA" provision for athletic footwear for military recruits could mean an additional 250,000 sneakers a year. Brendan Melley touted the figure Wednesday as three members of Maine's congressional delegation visited a New Balance factory in Skowhegan, the Morning Sentinel reported.

As New Hampshire goes, so goes the Senate?

In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt defeated Kansas' Gov. Alfred Landon in 46 of the 48 states, thereby creating the jest, "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont." Eight decades later, New England has gone from the Republicans' last redoubt in a bad year to their least receptive region in any year.

Did Wells Fargo target seniors with its bogus-account scheme?

Wells Fargo may have gone out if its way to take senior citizens to the cleaners when the bank's workers fraudulently opened as many as 2 million accounts without customers' permission. That's the suspicion of Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Maine land from Burt’s Bees founder is new national monument

President Barack Obama on Wednesday declared a new national monument in Maine on 87,000 acres donated by the founder of Burt's Bees, fulfilling conservationist Roxanne Quimby's goal of gifting the land during the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The announcement of the Katahdin Woods and Waters monument came a day after media reports that the foundation created by Quimby had transferred the land to federal ownership.

Housing the homeless, employing the unemployed shouldn’t require a Republican

That statement is a core Republican tenet - you would even get Susan Collins and Donald Trump to agree on it. And when Democrats want to be uncharitable, they claim that catchy line is a mere smokescreen for the GOP's opposition towell, whatever group they want to accuse Republicans of standing against.

The Way Out

It's fair to say that Donald Trump has made things difficult for the Republican Party. He has taunted its leaders, turned its debates into rap sessions about his anatomy, sabotaged its efforts to appeal to Latinos and to women, and, as he has shouted out bigoted invective, made many of its members feel shame.

Poll: 20 Percent of Republicans Want Trump to Quit

Nearly one-fifth of registered Republicans want Donald Trump to drop out of the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday, reflecting the turmoil his candidacy has sown within his party. The "drop out" response more than doubles to 44 percent when voters of all parties are included.

House Speaker Paul Ryan wins GOP nomination to run again

The Rio Olympics are in full swing: Michael Phelps is back to winning races in the pool, Simone Biles is running up the score in the gym and Hillary Clinton is advertising with eyes on doing just as well on... Hillary Clinton wants to get as close as possible to Michael Phelps and Simone Biles. So she's spending more than $13 million on political ads at the Olympics - while Donald Trump is sitting on the sidelines.

The Latest: Trump Predicts Big Growth Under Economic Plan

Donald Trump says his plan for the U.S. economy will produce annual growth of at least 4 percent, a figure not seen since the final year of Bill Clinton's presidency. The Republican nominee says that the proposal he unveiled Monday to cut taxes and create jobs makes a 4 percent growth rate "easily attainable and I think even more than that."

Senator Susan Collins: “I will not be voting for Donald Trump”

The Maine Republican is citing Trump's "complete disregard for common decency," evidenced by his insistence than a judge of Hispanic origin could not be impartial and his criticism of Muslim parents whose son was killed in the Iraq war. She says she's "increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize."

GOP Senator Susan Collins Won’t Vote for Trump: He’s ‘Unworthy of Being Our President’

Another Republican Senator has come out to declare that they cannot bring themselves to support or vote for Donald Trump because of his temperament. Maine's Susan Collins joins colleagues like Ben Sasse and Lindsey Graham in a Washington Post opinion piece tonight, saying, "It was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing - either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level - that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president."

Maine congressman, fiscal hawk, was often late with taxes

In this Oct. 31, 2015 file photo, Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, attends the christening ceremony for the USS Raphael Peralta in Bath, Maine. Poliquin, who's made fiscal responsibility a hallmark of his campaigns, has been late on paying property taxes for his personal properties and his real estate company numerous times.

Big Pharma is jacking up the price of the – antidote’ to…

While the law was undoubtedly a step forward for a gridlocked Congress, it won't affect one of the crisis' most intractable problems - the skyrocketing price of naloxone, a drug that instantly reverses overdoses. A report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January revealed that drug overdose deaths reached a new high in 2014 , totaling 47,055 people.

Democrats stage protest to demand gun control bill

Several dozen US House Democrats pushing for action on gun control protested on the floor of the House of Representatives chanting "no bill, no break!" and demanding that the chamber put off an upcoming recess until legislation is debated. The protest was the latest bold move by Democrats to persuade the Republican majority in Congress to consider gun control legislation in response to last week's mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, which was the deadliest in modern US history.