Clean election candidates do well

Mike Tipping, Bangor Daily News - Maine’s newly-revamped system of public campaign financing was successful in a wide range of contests across the state on Tuesday, with a majority of Clean Elections candidates winning in primary races where they were matched against privately-financed opponents. Clean Elections candidates won eight of thirteen such match-ups for the State Senate and four of seven State House contests.

These result are particularly noteworthy given that primary candidates running Clean are limited to a single disbursement, unlike in general election races where they can collect more $5 checks from district voters to qualify for additional public funds. The primary is therefore, theoretically, the part of the electoral cycle where they should be at the greatest disadvantage.