It's a good thing Adam Cote spent some time in the military, because the enemy fire is really picking up.

Throughout most of the campaign, Adam has been dodging sniper fire quite well. He has endured the sporadic burst of fire from Strimling on Cote's republican donors as well as the occasional grenade tossed in by Lawrence or Pingree on his on-again, off-again relationship with the Republican Party.

Plenty of danger, but Cote managed to escape uninjured.....so far.

Perhaps the fire power, minimal at best, was about right for Cote. After all, he was a greenhorn, with no organization, no name ID and almost no chance of winning in the first district --a district that has long been dominated by the progressive left.

Well, new intel reports are confirming a dramatic increase in the number and scope of enemy fire aimed at Camp Cote. This week saw a steady stream of negative letters to the editor, negative news stories, email whisper campaigns on everything from his service in Bosnia to "Big Oil" connections and general word of mouth campaign designed to take down the once insignificant Cote campaign. The Pingree campaign decided to increase the fire power with a hit piece that landed in the mailboxes late this week, with rumors of a radio ad waiting in the wings.

What gives? How does a second tier candidate - who was a complete stranger to voters just a few months ago, warrant all this attention?

Someone in the Pingree camp must know something we don't. There have not been any public polls available, and it seems unlikely that she would want to waste any money on a district wide piece of mail attacking Adam Cote, unless there was a problem.

In the meantime, Cote is going to have to strap on his helmet, tighten his flak jacket and hunker down. The cavalry arrives on Tuesday. We will have to wait and see who they are there to rescue.