U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, in the middle tube, floats down the Saco River in mid-August. Jared Golden Campaign
LEWISTON — For a candidate locked in tight reelection battle in one of the most hotly contested races in the country — in Maine’s sprawling, rural 2nd Congressional District — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden didn’t exactly follow textbook protocol for embattled political hopefuls.
Let’s just say he wasn’t sweating it.
But he isn’t “hiding in his basement,” as several GOP officials have suggested.
Instead of incessant campaigning, the three-term Lewiston Democrat spent August doing what many people do in Maine during the state’s all-too-brief moment in the sun.
Golden put many tourists to shame with a busy August schedule that included everything from tubing on the Saco River to fishing at Moosehead Lake. He’s eyeballed on an offshore island and driven through the Maine woods on an all-terrain vehicle.
Halfway through the month, Golden happily confessed on social media that “I’m spending August mostly away from the well-worn campaign trail, meeting voters in the places Mainers go to enjoy summer in our great state.”
He wasn’t kidding.
Early in August, the Maine Morning Star sought to speak with Golden about the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, but a spokesman told the news organization that his boss could not be reached for comment because he was “canoeing the Allagash” with his parents.
“The trip was a Christmas gift for his mom and has been on the schedule for months,” the Morning Star quoted the unnamed spokesman.
The executive director of the Maine Republican Party, Jason Savage, gave him a nod of sorts for vanishing along a remote river.
“It has to be Golden’s most creative way to avoid the media yet — allowing him to avoid the latest round of questions about who he’s supporting for president,” Savage said.
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden gets ready to hit the trails in Western Maine and check out how they’re doing. Jared Golden Campaign
About the same time that his Republican opponent Austin Theriault, a state lawmaker from Fort Kent, was sharing a stage with the U.S. House speaker at the Auburn Mall, Golden was tubing on the Saco River.
He said he invited “veterans and supporters” to join him Aug. 17 as he floated along in the current in a comfy-looking red tube.
When he finished soaking in the rays, he said, more folks joined the group for a cookout.
Almost a week later, Golden made another appearance on social media posed beside an all-terrain vehicle somewhere in western Maine where he was, he said, “hitting the trails to check out some conservation efforts with local leaders.”
The weather, though, wasn’t exactly tourism-brochure worthy since Golden also noted, “Not going to let a little rain hold us back!”
Golden continued in August to avoid campaign routines typically employed from one end of the country to the other, from pressing the flesh at fairs to talking to Rotary groups. He did, however, hand out cans of Bud Light wrapped in a campaign-branded koozie during a parade in Phillips, according to an NBC story.
By Aug. 28, last Wednesday, Golden was visiting Swan’s Island, a lovely spot southwest of Acadia National Park.
On a lovely day last week, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden was out on Swan’s Island to learn about the need to overhaul the town’s dock. Jared Golden’s Congressional Office
He wrote on social media that he was there to learn about plans “to rebuild the town dock,” a piece of “critical infrastructure for fishermen and emergency responders.”
“It was great to meet lobstermen and fishermen to discuss the island’s needs and how best to support Maine’s working waterfronts,” Golden said.
He didn’t give any indication that it was anything more than work.
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden says on social media that he “caught this beautiful landlocked salmon and released it safe and sound” at Moosehead Lake last week. Jared Golden Campaign
But, hey, one tourism website opined that “the island offers visitors spectacular scenery, several historic points of interest, and an opportunity to enjoy a more relaxed, natural pace of life.”
So it wasn’t quite like sitting through a hearing on Capitol Hill.
And, finally, closing out an unusual month on the campaign trail, Golden posted last Thursday that he’d been meeting with voters in the Moosehead Lake region.
And, yes, you guessed it, he managed to enjoy himself in one of Maine’s tourism meccas.
Posted beside a photograph of Golden on a small boat with a large fish, the congressman said, “I was able to get on the lake for a little fishing. I caught this beautiful landlocked salmon and released it safe and sound.”
“A day fishing in Maine is always a good day!” Golden exclaimed.
And that is about as truthful as a politician can possibly be.
Now, though, it’s past the traditional Labor Day start for campaigning so September likely won’t be quite as fun for any of the candidates, including Golden.
But at least he had some relief from the dual duties of Congress and campaigning.
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Publish date : 2024-09-03 11:01:00
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