The chair of Maine's Republican Party is defending an ad circulating in community newspapers that urges voters to keep Maine's new law making it harder to vote. The ad says that Equality Maine, a civil rights group, has donated to the ballot issue that would keep same-day voters registration in Maine -- and so, the ad says, voters should reject the ballot issue. Chairman Charlie Webster tells the Lewiston Sun-Journal that the ad's not "gay-bashing."
"We’ve talked about the different left-of-center groups that are supporting this referendum and questioned why they’re doing that," Webster said. "That's all this is."
You can't tell from the ad who paid for it, but Mr. Webster says that's because a tagline isn't required by law. Gerald Weinand of Dirigo Blue reports that the Tea Party candidate who's challenging Senator Olympia Snowe in a primary has called for Mr. Webster to resign over the "vile newspaper adverts."
(Photo: Dirigo Blue, from Rockland, Maine, at 9 a.m. Gerald Weinand writes that he saw two people registering with the clerk -- same-day registration at work. Headline h/t Tricia McKinney.)