As those of you know who read our opinion section regularly, we do not endorse particular politicians. However, we may at times comment on issues of the day. This is one of those days. 

You may have heard that Governor Romney is behind in the polls, particularly after the conventions. Here are my two cents as to why that is. 

I watched both conventions. It seemed to me that some of the speakers at the Republican convention were more interested in talking about their own accomplishments than Romney’s. That leads me to believe that, one, they weren’t willing to put their own careers on the line for a candidate that they didn’t think was particularly strong, and two, they may have aspirations for the future. Politicians generally do. 

With the economy being the way it is, the president should be behind significantly in the polls. (The only president I can think of who faced a worse economy was FDR. And it took a long time and an incredible amount of deficit spending for the American war effort during World War II to pull us out of the depression completely. FDR’s programs, which were far more socialistic than Obama’s and far more expensive as a percentage of the economy, made very modest gains on unemployment.) The Democratic convention, on the other hand, had speaker after speaker talking about how great the president is, how much he has accomplished, and how important it is for him to continue moving this country forward. In short, everybody there was overwhelmingly supportive. It is unfortunate for Romney he didn’t get that same support. Moreover, I don’t think it was his fault, but rather those who put the convention together and those who spoke for him.

So last week, I drove to Long Island with my mother and 9-year-old daughter Olivia. My siblings live there, and my mother needed to see a healthcare specialist that my sister Lauren swears by. Her husband Jimmy has had significant long-term health problems, so she knows more doctors than anyone I know. This doctor has helped him, so my mother wanted to give it a try. My brother and his wife had a baby girl seven weeks ago, and so they arranged to have the christening while we were there. The baby was named Jenna Marie: Jenna for my mother, whose name is Jenny, and Marie for her other grandmother, who has passed.

We always take the Cross Sound ferry out of New London, because I’d rather eat raw squid than drive all through Connecticut, New York City and Long Island to get to my sister's home in Hampton Bays. The ferry ride is beautiful, relaxing, shortens the trip considerably, and is well worth the money. Hampton Bays is a suburban area in eastern Long Island, and is really quite nice. She lives five minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and Shinnecock Bay on the ocean side, and the Great Peconic Bay between the north and south forks. I grew up on Long Island, and am accustomed to being around lots of water – just one of the many reasons Maine was such a great fit for me.

Extremely powerful people and organizations nationally are attempting to influence our local Maine elections through deceptive practices. For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is advertising partial truths about former Gov. Angus King, because he is not one of them. He doesn’t seem to be able to be bought. He is an independent broker for Maine people’s interests, and they don’t like that. They are closely tied to and fully supportive of the national Republican Party and its members, and they go after anyone who is not one of them. They are very partisan. 

This is unfortunate, because, as many of us know, Maine business owners are independent thinkers also. Some are Democrats, some are Republicans, and some are Independents. They cannot be put into an ideological box. They are representative of Mainers in general, who come in all political shapes and sizes. 

The Democratic Party is not happy about King either. He has refused to commit to caucusing with either party, because he is not one of them either. He’s a real independent.