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Capital Insights · Newsradio WGAN

• 0:00
  Phil Harriman, ladies and gentlemen, he who has much
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  coffee. Good morning, everyone.
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  Talking to He who has none. I heard you witching and
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  bitching about the lack of coffee.
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  I how? Dare I Because Danny makes my
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  coffee before I even get here because he's a wonderful human
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  being. But because of that I don't see
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  how much is left. So I didn't know it was empty.
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  So I'm a little bummed. I'm a little bummed the
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  executive producer, the WGAN Morning News, can't even make
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  sure that the host. I know the special machine and
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  you know how to make sure that you never run out of coffee.
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  You get that in there, Matt. Indeed, indeed.
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  All right. Well, Phil Harriman, nice to be
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  here with you on this auspicious Tuesday morning.
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  Yeah, what's going on? You got you're all suited up
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  here. You're looking all sparkly and
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  shiny. You got some big deal after the.
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  Aren't you coming to my thing tonight?
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  Are you coming? I am, yeah.
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  So you know what I'm. Doing oh OK.
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  I got a lunch and I got to do that, so I got a.
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  We're going to be giving a little breakdown of what to
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  expect in 20, 26 political landscape kind of conversations.
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  To the insights, yeah. It's going to be a packed room,
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  by the way. Oh, good, good, good turn out
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  coming out for that. Which is.
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  Good. Well, I'm looking forward.
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  To it, anybody would come listen to me speak.
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  But why not? So you join us.
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  I'm not sure if you saw this on your way in, Mr. Phil Harriman,
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  but there has been a major event in the gubernatorial race on the
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  Democratic side. In fact, it might all be over
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  now. I've got two sources of
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  information about the Democrats, so you go first.
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  The one I was going to say, it's not even a source of
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  information, It's just news. Is that about, I don't know,
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  like 45 minutes or an hour ago while I was talking, I just saw
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  this. Janet Mills has weighed in and
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  endorsed Hannah Pingree in the in the race for governor.
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  So she's now made open what we all knew that that's my
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  preferred candidate. So please go vote for her,
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  right? Is now Hannah Pingree going to
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  come in 5th place? That's my question.
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  I'm sorry, Janet, if you're listening, I don't mean to, I
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  don't mean to spike the. Football, but I definitely think
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  that it's going to move the needle.
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  I don't know in which direction. A couple of things come to mind.
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  One, Troy Jackson and Governor Mills, I think it's fair to say
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  have not had a collegial relationship as her as governor
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  and he as the president of the Senate.
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  Shanna Bellows is as diplomatically as possible
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  distance herself from Mills by saying I don't work for Mills.
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  I was elected by the legislature to be this partisan, non
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  partisan Secretary of State, right.
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  So I wonder if this endorsement of Pingree is going to amp up
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  their ability to say, you know what, I tried to work with the
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  Mills administration and she wouldn't, wouldn't listen.
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  She was more interested in what Hannah Pingree had to say, who
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  helped her shape policy. And look at the mess we have
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  with energy, education, drug abuse, etcetera, etcetera.
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  But here's what I have for you. Apparently, an outside group of
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  scientists who want to have a influence in the main
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  gubernatorial election just dropped the like $650,000 of
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  political ads in support of Doctor Shaw.
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  Indeed, Mr. Shaw. Have you seen that?
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  I have. Oh.
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  I have. I guess I didn't bring any news
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  this morning. Well.
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  No, it's all right. I'm, I'm a, I'm a consummate
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  insider. I hear everything always, all
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  the time. So no, it's a it's getting
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  interesting, but I'm seeing Angus King shoveling what it
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  looks to be horse manure in the morning on my TV, you know, for
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  commercials. Jonathan Bush's shredding stuff
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  still still working on that shredder of his.
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  You got Shaw's on the air. You got now the Mills thing.
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  I'm sure that's going to turn into an ad where Mills she's
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  wearing AT shirt. By the way, she's wearing a hand
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  up for Governor T-shirt. Oh boy, yeah.
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  So she doesn't back down. She stands up to.
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  Bullies talk about bullies. Oh my.
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  Goodness. Well I mean that message works
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  so well for her in in her primary.
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  Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, you're welcome.
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  I. Mean, I don't mean to make
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  lights of that endorsement, but I do I I mean.
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  Is it going to be? If I was Hannah, would you want
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  that I? But how could you not?
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  She, she has spent what, 6 years there in in charge of the what
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  in the environment, in the innovation?
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  What can she bring to the microphone to demonstrate that
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  she has been successful at doing that?
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  She's been in charge of housing and energy, which are two of the
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  biggest catastrophes of the last eight years.
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  So the message is I'm the right person, we just had the wrong
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  governor. So elect me, let me tax these
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  rich people even more, and we'll solve this problem that's been
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  going on. For a long.
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  Since I was in the main Senate. You know.
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  Even before I got there, we talked about homelessness and
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  housing, and we were back in the 70s, we were insulating homes as
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  a way to conserve oil use. And what are we talking about
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  today? What is this now, 60 years
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  later, Cheekers? Yeah, and it's only worse.
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  The interesting thing about Mills, too, though, is that it's
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  also a weird pitch for Hannah Pingree to be making.
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  Because I honestly, you would say, yeah, of course you take a
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  governor sitting governor's endorsement, right.
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  But what does what's the message that's sent to the Democratic
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  primary voters? It's that status quo.
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  It's that you liked what she was.
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  Let's keep doing that. I was in the middle of all that
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  and I'm going to keep doing the things that she did.
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  And I Is any Democrat in the mood for that?
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  Is any Republican in the mood for that?
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  Is anybody in the mood for that? Well, I think if you're running
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  nonprofits or you're in academia or you're in the state employees
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  union, yeah, those resonate. Those are that's your vitality.
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  That's that's your vitamin in the morning.
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  Well, I guess we're going to find out whether or not it
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  matters or I just, I think this is not helpful to her at all.
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  I, I think you're right. I do it's, it's funny that you
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  know, you and I and many of the listeners follow this political
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  maneuvering for a year ago, right?
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  Talking about who's running for governor and who's announced
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  today and where are they in the campaign trail?
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  And now that the the general public is what, what?
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  2 weeks away? 3 weeks away, the we the people
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  are finally saying, Oh yes, June.
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  Is it 9th? I think it's ninth.
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  Yeah, we're. Going to have an election,
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  wonder who I'm going to vote for now?
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  All of the the candidates who have any organizational
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  structure and any cash in the bank, they're, they're suited up
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  and on the field. They are indeed.
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  Hey, Speaking of gubernatorial races, one of my stories that
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  I've been covering today is this back and forth between the
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  Midgley campaign and the Charles campaign with accusations of
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  attack websites being paid for and operated by the Charles
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  campaign denials or at least weak non committals coming from
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  the Charles campaign, Midgley basically filing a complaint
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  over it. And if you've watched any of
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  those debates that have been taking place recently, boy, they
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  have been getting a little bit nastier, have they not?
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  They have been getting now they all understand the clock and
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  they're like, oh, OK, I guess we'd have to start doing this
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  now. So let's go, let's go to my
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  point a moment ago. People are finally starting to
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  pay attention. And clearly the Charles
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  campaign, if if they're polling is accurate, is showing that
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  Midgley's gaining that his he's turned the 4th corner in the
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  race and he is gaining speed. And I think it's really telling
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  that Charles, who claims fame by being a, you know, a drug Lord
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  interdiction, right, Narco terrorism is is this the sort of
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  political maneuvering that we're seeing out of that campaign as
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  you do these sort of in the dead of night maneuvers to win?
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  Well, is it hurt him? That's the question.
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  Because if it will help him, then yeah, he's probably, I
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  mean, you know what I mean? Like I would, I would say at
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  this point there are many candidates who are saying or
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  would say to themselves, if it helps me win, I'll do it.
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  And so attacking your opponent, I mean, like it's they have
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  opposition research on all their, their main competitors.
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  They've clearly identified that Midgley's a threat.
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  So let's drop it, but just drop it.
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  I think you're absolutely correct earlier in the in the
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  program when when you said, hey, if it's true, put your name on
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  it. Yeah, right.
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  Why? Why, you know, do sleight of
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  hand off to the side, nothing to nothing to connect my campaign
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  with this message. But now we're saying there's
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  reason to believe that it is connected to your campaign,
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  which is going to cause people to say, well, maybe that's not
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  the person I want to nominate to be the candidate.
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  Yeah, you. Can't look sneaky and
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  underhanded by doing it that way.
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  Right. And what's, what's the claim
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  about Mitchell he that he was once a Democrat?
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  For 27 years he was a Democrat. From 1988 till whatever.
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  Yeah. There's nothing better than a
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  reformed Democrat who now is a Republican who has lived in the
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  system. I've never really taken
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  seriously that argument. I mean, Trump was a Democrat for
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  like, if you're going to get well.
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  Right. But my, my, my point is that if
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  you have gone through the, the life journey, being in the
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  Democrat philosophy of how government should influence your
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  lives, and you finally come to a place where you say, you know
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  what, this does not work. I know because I lived it.
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  And now you come over to the, you know, less government,
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  personal responsibility and freedom side of the political
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  spectrum. You're counting that as a win.
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  Well, I just think if he's fortunate enough to be elected
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  governor, he's going to be able to stand his ground and and hang
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  on to his values because he knows what the other side is
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  actually doing. Yeah.
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  Do you have any sense of how what's really happening in this
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  primary right now? I know since we have like 3
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  weeks to go, we can start doing prediction time.
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  I mean, like you've seen in the last couple weeks with these
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  debates and with all these TV ads and a little bit of radio
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  ads, you're starting to see like a blitz.
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  And there's some debate coverage on CBS 13 as we speak.
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  Oh yeah, look at that. There they are sitting there
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  debating each other. Has anything changed?
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  Like does anything about this race look fundamentally
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  different to you right now? Like, are you see surging
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  people? I mean, I've heard from a lot of
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  people, this is just anecdotal and an example, right?
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  But I've heard a lot of people that are saying, well, you know,
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  that Jonathan Bush kind of kind of grown on me.
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  I kind of like that guy. Like they seem to like his media
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  campaign, his commercials. I think there's still a
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  hesitation and A and a, I'm not so sure about him, but he seems
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  to be the crazy uncle who people like, you know what I mean?
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  And they they're, they're putting him on the list where
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  they may not have before, which doesn't mean he wins.
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  It doesn't mean he's even going to be, you know, top 2 or
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  anything like that. But he seems to be at least in
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  the conversation. Are there people that used to be
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  in the conversation that are out, used to be out that are in?
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  I mean, Owen McCarthy is one of these wild cards that I don't
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  know how to describe where he is right now.
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  How do you read things? Going on, when people heard that
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  Jonathan Bush was related to Herbert Walker and W, they
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  conjured up an image in their mind of what he must be like.
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  And that was either, yeah, I'm going to support him or not
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  another Bush. And I think what he has done
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  masterfully is separate himself from the the presidential image
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  of the Bush to hey, I'm a guy who was medic.
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  I served in the military. I started a company that was
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  successful. I'm I'm an entrepreneur.
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  I have the courage of my convictions to recognize that
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  state government has gotten too big and it's gotten too
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  overbearing and I'm going to fix it.
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  And I think the to your point, the more his ads are out there
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  and your to your point earlier, they're new ads.
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  They're not the same ads running over and over again.
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  These are new ways in which he's saying similar, similar things.
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  And I heard one this morning where a family business, the
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  husband passed away suddenly and Jonathan Bush was helpful in
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  keeping the business afloat. And, and the family recognizes
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  that he was there in their, their docus hours.
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  And now their, their company continues to to thrive.
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  Those are the things I think people are going to say.
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  Oh, well, I didn't know that about him.
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  He's not like W and Herbert Walker.
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  And, you know, the more he talks, the more I I like him.
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  I think Midgley is continuing to to surge.
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  He's got this diplomatic way about him that people are
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  saying, yeah, you know, he's got a command of the facts and he
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  knows the direction we need to go in.
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  And he's not doing it by yelling and screaming and pounding his
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  first on the on the table. I, I, I think Bobby Charles was
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  made a flaw in his decision not to be part of these debates.
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  When you have the opportunity for free for an hour on the
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  statewide television networks to make your case and you say, no,
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  no, I don't need to. I don't need to be there.
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  But it does imply though. I mean, he did do a couple, but
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  he's. In the end I mean.
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  But I mean, it does imply though that they must think because
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  it's the only logical reason you would do this.
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  They must think that his lead is large and and not maybe not
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  insurmountable, but like it's very, very difficult for the
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  other ones to overcome. Because then you would get into
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  like risk averse mentalities where you know, if I'm, if I've
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  got like 45% in the net and Midgley's at like 18, right,
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  then me going to those debates is only a risk for me because
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  like, I mean, if I just run out the clock and play the prevent
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  defense, like I'm winning the game, I'm winning the game.
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  So I'm not going to take the any sort of weird abnormal risks,
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  right. My thing though, is that if
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  that's what they believe, I'm not sure I believe that.
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  I, I just, and it's not anything about Bobby Charles
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  specifically. It's just that I think this
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  field is so unknown and that there's not this like in 2010,
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  there is this dramatic difference between Paul LePage,
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  the movement populist conservative guy, and Les Auden,
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  the corporate, you know, you know, Chamber of Commerce type
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  Republican, you know, and like Steve Abbott, the Susan Collins
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  Republican and you know, all that stuff.
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  There was a difference. So you could see one of them,
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  LePage, attracting like a pretty big chunk of that electorate,
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  and even he only still got 37% of the of the vote.
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  You're telling me Bobby Charles is at that level or higher
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  compared to the other people? I just don't understand why he
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  would be. And again, not a knock on him.
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  It's more that the rest of the field is more similar to each
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  other. Like there's no big ideological
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  argument, you know, that makes one of them better than the
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  other. They all have interesting, you
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  know, background changes and gifts and whatnot, but I just
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  don't see this being like the de facto choice by a 25 or 30 point
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  margin. And if it's not, then I think it
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  was a mistake not to go, because then you're not making your
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  case. Why do you have me on this
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  program? I'm just saying.
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  No, I'm just, you're absolutely right.
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  Brilliant. Brilliant.
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  Brilliant, he says, he says. Brilliant.
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  I would I would add two things to what you said which are spot
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  on. 1 independence can come and vote in the Republican primary
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  and not have to register as a member.
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  So why wouldn't you use if you're Bobby Charles to
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  introduce yourself to the curious independence out there
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  who may come and vote in a Republican or Democrat?
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  Primary who? If you do win, you'll need in
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  the general anyway. Bingo.
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  That's the other point. So you could begin now while
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  you're gathering or maintaining your stature in the Republican
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  Party as the nominee, you can begin to make inroads in those
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  independent minded voters during the the primary process.
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  Why wouldn't you take advantage of that?
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  Again, I think it's because they think they have a really big
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  lead and I just don't. I don't know.
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  I mean, I don't trust polling, as you know.
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  Yeah, and internal polling is better than than the public
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  polling I'll get, I'll grant you that.
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  But I just internal polling is good for the candidates Vigo.
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  It is, but I mean, generally in my experience in campaigns, it
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  tends to be more accurate just because they one thing that I
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  will give campaign consultants is they want to know the real
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  information so that they can like adapt and change.
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  Like if they're really losing, they don't want anybody else to
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  know, but they want to know so they can fix it.
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  So I think it's generally better, but I just.
• 17:20
  Speaking. Of which a hard time thinking
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  that it's that big of a lead. If he has one, well, no
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  tomorrow. Pan Atlantic.
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  Pan Atlantic has one dropping. Dropping tomorrow.
• 17:30
  That'll be interesting, yeah. Do you have any inside
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  information on that I? Don't.
• 17:34
  I don't. But I have reason to believe it
• 17:36
  will be out there before you go off the air today, tomorrow.
• 17:40
  Tomorrow, OK, so tomorrow, all right.
• 17:43
  Well then I will keep an eye on I'll have their website on
• 17:45
  refresh and see what I can do. Danny will have all that for.
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  You, of course, he will. We got 2 minutes left here.
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  Not even Susan Collins, Graham Plattner, you know, I mean,
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  there's nothing that's really new or different in that race
• 17:57
  this week. But there is, I think now a
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  trickle of negative stuff coming out of from the Collins side,
• 18:04
  from the Republican side, from the national packs that are
• 18:07
  involved in this stuff like they're now and getting engaged
• 18:09
  on this guy. Is that wise to do this early
• 18:11
  and will it be effective? That's my question.
• 18:15
  I'm not sure now is the time to do it, but it definitely be
• 18:18
  affected because there is such a contrast between what he is
• 18:21
  saying now and what he has done, you know, in words and deeds in
• 18:26
  the past. And for someone who says I'm
• 18:30
  100% on military disability, but I am fit to be a United States
• 18:36
  senator, I think that needs a deeper explanation.
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  Because talk about the stress of the job.
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  I know it's not your life and death, but it is a demanding job
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  to be in the US Senate. Demonstrate.
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  In a very public one. Yeah.
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  And a very public 1 and demonstrate that you have the
• 18:55
  capability and the capacity to to handle the job.
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  And how are we to be sure that your past comments about people
• 19:06
  of color, about women, about communism, etcetera, those are
• 19:11
  all washed away? Right.
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  It's the old me. It's the old me.
• 19:15
  Yeah. You know, two years ago.
• 19:18
  Phil Airman. Appreciate it, as always.
• 19:19
  Good morning, everyone. Without me having any coffee.
• 19:21
  And I survived. Isn't that nice?