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Brunswick Times Record BRUNSWICK — U.S. Senate hopeful Tom Ledue is vying for a chance to influence national policies in energy, environment and foreign relations, a platform he is using to distinguish himself from well-known Democratic competitor Rep. Tom Allen in the weeks preceding June’s primary election. And if Ledue manages to best Allen, he faces sitting Sen. Susan Collins. At 44, with his wife, Claire, and four daughters, Ledue is leaving a 25-year career in education, most recently as an assistant principal at Noble High School, and investing personal assets to campaign. Ledue has harbored aspirations to run for office since he was political science major at the University of Southern Maine, once including in an assignment to write his obituary that he served three terms in the U.S. Senate. Now he’s aiming to do that despite never having held elected office before. He said he might have embarked on his political aspirations in a more localized race, except that the issues he wants to tackle are broad national ones demanding immediate attention. “I don’t believe we have a lot of time to change some of these issues,” he said. “Washington is very much stuck. We need leadership from out of the system.” The issues he references include energy consumption, environmental responsibility and foreign policy, three related areas presenting opportunities for change. His plan calls for reducing energy emissions nationwide by 10 percent in the next three years and 80 percent by 2050, reducing dependence on energy from other countries as well as defense spending. He’d like to channel those savings in local businesses, agriculture and new technologies that would promote local energy efficiency, offering interest-free loans or grants so communities can investigate localized energy alternatives like windmills or tidal power. If his goals are substantial, so are the obstacles facing Ledue: Democratic challenger Allen and Republican incumbent Collins. As a member of the same party and someone who has previously voted for Allen five times, Ledue differentiates himself from Allen by touting his definite platform and a response from Allen he calls insufficient in light of the issues the nation is facing. “Some people just need to know I’m an educator and that’s enough for them,” he said. By traditional measures even Ledue acknowledges he is running as a long-shot candidate, and even if he bests Allen in the Democratic primary, he will still have to face Collins. But Collins will be a less difficult opponent, he said, despite her considerable campaign finances. “I think she is much more vulnerable than Tom Allen,” he said, noting that his stands align more easily with a constituent frightened by escalating fuel costs and an increasingly unpopular war. And those same problems, he said, are presenting an invitation for change to newcomers like himself. “There are tremendous opportunities out there if we have the political will to pursue them,” he said. |
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