Press attention, money, and political capital in Maine focused on a wedge issue — gay marriage. But proponents and opponents alike used plenty of money from outside the state to influence the vote.

Voters in Maine, overwhelmingly decided that patients should have easier access to medical marijuana. Preliminary poll results showed nearly 60 percent of voters approved a ballot initiative that makes Maine only the fifth state to allow dispensaries. Currently, more than 50 percent of Americans live in a state that has some form of recognition of patient rights to cannabis.

The lower house of the Maine state legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that takes the northeasternmost U.S. state a step closer to being the fifth in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Maine's Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted 89 to 57 to enact the proposal.

Today the citizens of Shapleigh, Maine voted at a special town meeting to pass a groundbreaking Rights-Based Ordinance, 114 for and 66 against. This revolutionary ordinance give its citizens the right to local self-governance and gives rights to ecosystems but denies the rights of personhood to corporations. This ordinance allows the citizens to protect their groundwater resources, putting it in a common trust to be used for the benefit of its residents. Shapleigh is the first community in Maine to pass such an ordinance, which extends rights to nature, however, the Ordinance Review Committee in Wells, Maine is considering passing one in their town. These communities have been under attack by Nestle Waters, N.A., a multi-national water miner that sells bottled water under such labels as Poland Springs. Communities have opposed the expansion by Nestle Waters, but the corporation will not take no for an answer. The town of Fryeburg, Maine has been in litigation with Nestle for six years. Nestle wants to expand and the town's people say no to the tanker trunk traffic which has disrupted their quiet scenic beauty, so Nestle's tactic is to wear them down, and break their bank.

Laurie Dobson may be best known in the state of Maine for introducing the measure in her hometown of Kennebunkport, seeking the arrest of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes, should they ever set foot in Kennebunkport where the president's father famously owns a summer home. Dobson admits that having Kennebunkport swear out a warrant for the arrest of a sitting president of the United States is a long shot, but she believes that a case for war crimes can be made.

Independent US Senate candidate Laurie Dobson has announced plans to file a formal Writ of Indictment against President Bush and Vice President Cheney next Tuesday, Feb. 26, at Kennebunkport Town Hall. If passed by the town’s Board of Selectmen, it could result in the arrest of Bush and/or Cheney if they visit Kennebunkport.

Sen. Barack Obama has won his party’s caucuses in Maine today in his bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Obama in the farthest corner of New England follows a string of victories from Louisiana to Washington state on Saturday and virtually evens the score... Before word of Obama’s caucus victory arrived today, the Clinton campaign’s manager, Patti Solis Doyle, announced she was stepping down. Note: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_state/US_Page_0210_VD.html?SITE=ILCHTELN&SECTION=POLITICS

Bush-Cheney impeachment protests happened all over the country, and even spread to Europe: California: San Diego, San Fransisco, Eureka Colorado: Denver Florida: Miami, Second Report Georgia: Atlanta Hawaii: Honolulu Maine: Bangor Massachusetts: Boston Minnesota Nevada: Reno North Carolina: Charolette New York: Ithaca Tennessee: Memphis, Second Report Utah: Salt Lake City Washington DC(A26) ——————————————– International: Italy: Rome France

"According to the rules of the US House of Representatives, any state legislature can present a resolution to impeach the president. Deborah Gordan and Stan Lofalia of MaineImpeach.org hope Maine will be the first state to do so, though similar efforts are under way in several other states. The group of artists and activists has collected 3600..."

States like Maine protested that not only was this law an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy rights of their residents, but it was a de facto national ID card in its own right, yet another foot in the door towards a totalitarian police state. The costs of implementation would be too high, projected to be in the tens of millions in each state, and would have to be passed on to the citizens somehow.

The Associated Press SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine The lawyer who divulged President George W. Bush's drunken-driving arrest days before the 2000 election was arrested at gunpoint Tuesday after he was seen on a highway overpass carrying a toy gun while dressed in an Osama bin Laden costume. Tom Connolly, 49, of Scarborough, was charged with criminal threatening after he stood at a construction site visible to commuters on a major highway while wearing a Halloween holiday costume and waving a sign.