North of Bangor

Andrew Ian Dodge announced recently that he will be running against Senator Olympia Snowe in the primary. Against a backdrop of much derision from the GOP party faithful, Andrew has taken all the steps to run, and the FEC has confirmed that he is indeed a candidate.

On Monday, I sat down with Andrew at the Longhorn Steakhouse in Bangor to discuss his challenge against the entrenched Republican Senator.

North of Bangor Podcast: The Chinese are Coming
Michelle Anderson Interviews Millinocket Retired Mill Worker John DiCentes

Last week, retired mill worker and ex-candidate for town council John DiCentes stopped by my house for coffee. We had the chance to talk about some of the things that were going on with the school department, some of which have people in Millinocket not too happy.

I met at the Millinocket GOP office with Debbi Perkins, who is running for the House seat in District 10 against Herbie Clark. Always the trooper, Deb was just getting over a cold, and I have edited out a couple of coughing fits.

When asked why I would want to vote for her, she answered:

AMG Podcasts: ME Gubernatorial Candidate Beverly Cooper-Pete
Interview by Michelle Anderson, North of Bangor

Last week I had lunch with gubernatorial write-in candidate Beverly Cooper-Pete and her sister at the Olive Garden in Augusta. After lunch and over coffee, we had this conversation.

Michael Badnarik ran for President of the United States in 2004 against George W. Bush and John F. Kerry on the Libertarian ticket. He teaches classes about the Constitution, and to that end runs ConstitutionPreservation.org. He is a an originalist and boils the Constitution down to two sentences: "Don't hurt me. Don't take my stuff."

I sat down with Michael during a break in the Freedom Action Convention, where he was the keynote speaker. In this interview, he talks about the Constitution, the Federal Reserve, and the responsibilities of Congress and of citizens.

Michael Shaw, founder of Freedom Advocates, formerly Freedom 21 Santa Cruz, was a participant in the first Local Agenda 21 initiative in Santa Cruz, California. When he realized just what the policies of Local Agenda 21 -- known as sustainable development, ICLEI, and a host of other names -- began to counter the impact of the policies and founded his organization to help develop strategies for local organizations.

I met author New York Times best-selling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr. at the Valley Forge Freedom Action Conference last month, but was unable to interview him then.

Amanda Teegarden, from OK-SAFE which played a key role in stopping the Trans-Texas Corridor, talked to me about their efforts to lobby legislators in her state, teaching others how to have a voice, and the expansion of the reasons to collect biometric information from citizens.

Jeff Lewis, of the FIRE Coalition, spoke about the governmental concept of "original jurisdiction" particularly as it affects the case of the Obama Justice Department against Governor Jan Brewer, in her official capacity.

"The judges on American Idol have as much jurisdiction to hear the case against Arizona as the U.S. District Court for the district of Arizona does. So any rulings, injunctions, whatever that lady does -- Judge Bolton -- no offense to her personally, but professionally, she's in violation of her oath of office."

Last Thursday, August 26, I met with independent candidate Eliot Cutler at Bagel Central in Bangor.