Just before the debate began I reached out and shook hands with my opponent. Jasper Wyman is tall and erect, handsome and articulate. An ordained minister, he had served for two terms in the state legislature. Now he was running for the U.S. Senate, trying to unseat me. Under other circumstances he would have been a formidable candidate, but his campaign had been slow to gain traction. His principal problem was that while he was now the Republican candidate, he had been a Democrat during his tenure in the legislature. One of the reasons I knew him so well was that in one of his earlier campaigns I had traveled to his hometown to appear with him and campaign in his behalf. I had urged the residents of Pittsfield to vote for him because his character, intelligence, and ability would serve them well. And he did serve them well in the legislature. During that time, however, the role of the Christian Right in American politics grew. The Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell, gained adherents and influence. Jack (as Wyman was known) became the director of the Christian Civic League of Maine and increasingly focused on the policies and politics of abortion. He then left the Democratic Party and became a Republican. Unfortunately for him, in his candidacy for the Senate he now had the worst of both worlds: Democrats disliked him for his departure, and many Republicans didn’t fully trust him. Despite his ability, his sincerity, and his effort he was unable to raise much money or garner much public support, and he never seriously threatened me.
That had not been obvious a few months earlier. On paper, at least, he seemed to be capable of mounting a serious challenge. So I worked hard to conduct an effective campaign. I visited every part of the state, defending my record against his criticism. It helped that in Washington I was in a highly publicized race for Senate majority leader; the prospect of a Maine senator leading the Senate was attractive to many Mainers.I It also helped that I was able to outspend him in advertising by a wide margin. As a result what had been a comfortable margin in the summer grew as the election approached. My goal in the televised debates was not to make a major mistake. I didn’t, and the debates passed with little attention or effect. On election day I received 81.3 percent of the votes cast to Wyman’s 18.7 percent, the largest margin in a contested Senate election in Maine’s history.
Within days I returned to Washington for more campaigning. Democrats had retained a majority in the Senate. The incumbent majority leader, Senator Byrd, had announced that he would not seek reelection to that position. I was one of the three candidates from which the fifty-five Democratic senators would choose the man who would lead the Senate for the next two years. The election was scheduled for late November, just after Thanksgiving, and, unlike the Maine Senate race, this outcome was very much in doubt.
I. Mainers is the name for those who choose to live in Maine, whether born there or elsewhere. Mainiacs is the name for those who are born in Maine but choose to live elsewhere. At least that’s my understanding of the terms.