Democrats Eye Maine Senate Seat

July 11, 2008 — -- The Democrat running against Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, hopes to bring about a burst of legislation not seen since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House.

"The reason that I'm in this race has everything to do with recapturing the working majority that we had in 1965," Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, told ABC News. "I want to be part of a movement for change that is so big and so strong and so effective that it leaves its mark on future generations."

Allen recently sat down with ABCNews.com for an interview about his U.S. Senate bid. An invitation for a separate one-on-one interview also has been extended to Collins.

Collins, who joined Democrats in opposing the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban" in 2003, styles herself as a moderate who reaches across the aisle. In 2004, she co-authored a bill to overhaul of the nation's intelligence community with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

Allen is hoping to puncture what he refers to as his rival's "effective brand" as a centrist by highlighting a series of issues on which she has voted with President Bush.

"For the people in Maine who we represent, this race is about energy, health care, the economy and Iraq. Those are the big four," said Allen. "Those are the big four for me, too. But they're not the big four for Senator Collins."

"If I run through my litany," he added, "nobody says to me after that, 'Well, I still think she's a moderate.'"

With gas topping $4 per gallon and with the cost of home-heating oil on the rise, Allen is hammering Collins for backing the 2005 energy bill spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It's a terrible bill," said Allen. "It moved $14 billion in tax breaks and incentives to the oil and gas industry at a time when they didn't need it."

Asked about Sen. Barack Obama's support for the same energy bill, Allen sought to downplay it by pointing to differences in the states that they represent.

"He comes from Illinois, a corn-growing state, an ethanol state. She's in Maine," said Allen.

Allen, who unlike Collins voted against authorizing the use of force in Iraq in 2002, is not satisfied with the "transition the mission" legislation offered by his opponent.

He wants a 15-18 month timetable for troop withdrawal that would leave no U.S. troops behind unless there is an agreement with the Iraqi government.

"The Iraqis really have to want us there, and we have to have a very small footprint," said Allen.

The Collins measure, which she has offered as an amendment to a defense authorization bill, would require the president to transition the mission of U.S. troops away from combat and towards the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, the protection of Iraq's borders, the conducting of counter-terrorism operations, and the safeguarding of Americans.

Allen, who has missed more votes than his rival, is seeking to tie Collins to the president on the economy by pointing to her support for multiple Bush tax cuts that he depicts as unaffordable and tilted to the rich.

"Susan Collins is the only member of the Maine delegation who consistently supported the Bush tax cuts for the super-wealthy: '01, '03, '06," said Allen. "She voted for all of them."

He dismissed efforts on the part of Collins to limit the scope of the tax cuts, saying, "What matters is how you vote."

Allen said that in order to fix the economy, Congress must first grapple with health care.

He has offered a plan for near-universal coverage that he estimates would cost $75-$100 billion per year. To pay for the overhaul, which includes the creation of a Medicare-like public plan open to all Americans, Allen said that he would raise taxes on those making more than $280,000 a year.

To pay for the plan he says he would devote savings from Medicare and ending the Iraq war.

"We can't have our businesses large and small lugging around a cost that is this much greater than what businesses based in other countries have to do," said Allen.

Private insurers who agree not to discriminate on the basis of age and pre-existing conditions would be allowed to compete with the public plan by offering policies to Americans enrolled in a newly established purchasing cooperative.

To lower premiums on private plans, Allen wants the federal government pick up catastrophic health bills.

Small business owners would be offered a refundable tax credit to make covering their employees more affordable. They would not, however, be required to make a contribution to their employees' health plans, as they would under Obama's proposal.

"Before you say we're going to have a mandate for an individual or a business, you really have to create the system," said Allen when asked about Obama's health plan. "I want to create that public plan, and then I believe that most businesses will go in that direction.

"Otherwise," he added, "you're shutting down the smallest businesses, the ones that are on the edge. They might not be the smallest businesses always, but they are the ones most on the edge, and you don't want to do that if you're trying to cover everybody with health care."

Even though the Maine Senate seat is not expected to change hands, Senate Democrats are poised to pick up additional seats this November. Two years after the party picked up a narrow 51-49 majority, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said that his party is almost certain to lose seats once again this fall, and said if the GOP can hold its losses to three seats it would be a "terrific night."

Allen's national fundraising pitch is that Obama, whom he endorsed three months after Maine's caucuses, will not be able to make good on his promise of change if Democrats cannot break Republican filibusters in the Senate.

"I think you need 57 or 58 or 59" Senate Democrats "in order to drive an agenda that represents real change on the biggest challenges we face in this country," said Allen.

While Obama is expected to carry Maine in the presidential race, Collins is currently seen as comfortably ahead in her re-election bid. Allen is hoping, however, that he will pull ahead of the two-term incumbent once his television ads tie the Republican incumbent to Bush.

"This race is going to be marked by a climb," he added. "I am going to make a prediction that in the last two weeks, this race is going to be very exciting."