Flying ship of fantasy BY AL DIAMON

Anybody can run for governor. No experience required. No qualifications necessary. No charisma. No clue. Not even a decent head of hair. All that’s needed is an over-stimulated ambition gland and an inability to distinguish between realty and the churning of a fevered imagination.

Hey, it worked for John Baldacci.

Although our incumbent Democratic governor did have a few stains on his resume that didn’t come from spaghetti sauce. He’d served on the Bangor City Council, without distinguishing himself. He’d put in some time in the Legislature, trying to win tax breaks for his friends. He’d done four terms in Congress, during which his major achievement was returning to Maine nearly every weekend. And he had retail politics down cold.

All of that is offset somewhat by his inability to govern worth a damn, but Baldacci is hardly unique in that. His predecessor, independent Angus King, floundered for eight years, saved from his own incompetence by the booming economy which provided enough state revenue to pay for a boatload of flounders. Even that was an improvement over the guy King replaced, Republican John McKernan, who didn’t even pretend to steer the ship of state.

So it’s been a while since the lights being on in the Blaine House meant anybody was actually home.

It might be a while longer, particularly given the assortment of unusual life forms attracted to the 2006 race by the perception Baldacci is vulnerable and Republicans have no clear frontrunner to challenge him. (Those who insist state Senator Peter Mills is now leading the pack should take note of William Safire’s warning that the word frontrunner "carries ominous overtones of a likelihood of fading in the homestretch." Republicans who think state Senator Chandler Woodcock will emerge as the party favorite ignore their boy’s dislike of the spotlight and discomfort with the media.)

Among the curiosities flitting about the edges of the gubernatorial field is P. James Dowe, the president of Bangor Savings Bank, who’s told friends he’s considering running as an independent. Dowe didn’t return calls requesting an interview, and his staff at the bank refused to provide a biography, so what I could discover about him comes from a Google search, newspaper clippings, and interviews with businesspeople.

Dowe is a pal of ex-Governor King (they once shared a ski camp at Sugarloaf), and Dowe’s wife worked for King’s spouse when she was the state’s first lady. Dowe was described by an acquaintance as "like King without the media savvy." Considering that media savvy was about all King had going for him, that’s a little scary.

Dowe, who’s about 57, took over Bangor Savings in 1995, after a stint as head of Bath Savings Institution. He’s credited with reviving a stodgy organization, overseeing the purchase of 31 Fleet Bank branches in 1998 that transformed Bangor into a statewide player, and pushing the bank into the insurance and brokerage fields. King appointed him to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees in 2000, and he’s also put in time on the boards of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Maine Maritime Academy, and the Nature Conservancy, as well as Baldacci’s council on the creative economy. In June, he gave up his title as chief executive officer of the bank, but retained the seat of president.

"I remember him at meetings," said a retired executive, who served on boards with Dowe. "He didn’t say much or take on any hot-button issues."

Then there’s Mark Call of Cornish, who’s "exploring the possibility" of running for governor as a Republican. GOP insiders I spoke with, including two from York County, all had similar assessments.

"Never heard of him," said one.

"Who?," said another. "For what?"

Call, according to a story in the Sacopee Valley Citizen, is 37 and the owner of a supermarket, as well as the managing partner of a controversial strip mall that’s renting space to Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway franchises, a move some Cornish residents regard as an assault on the character of their town. He’s never held public office, but was considering a bid for York County commissioner before deciding the governorship was more his style. According to his news release, he plans to "take the state in a new direction," although he doesn’t say which one.

Call, Dowe, and several other even-more-obscure gubernatorial possibilities could be dismissed as harmless eccentrics if not for one important factor: Maine’s public financing law. If any of them can muster even a minimal amount of organization and support, they can qualify for more than a million bucks apiece in taxpayer money. That’s more than enough to allow them to demonstrate that it doesn’t take experience, expertise, or intelligence to run for governor.

It just takes a bank account full of somebody else’s money.

Yours, for instance.

Whether you’re running for office or just running your mouth, you can email me at ishmaelia@gwi.net