With arrival of the Las Vegas money, the once floundering Oxford County Casino referendum appears to have been given a much needed boost.  Seth Carey, the man from Rumford who kicked off the effort two years ago, is apparently out of the picture, and Pat LaMarche is back in the the fold.  LaMarche quit the campaign earlier over differences with Carey.

In Scarborough, the owners of Scarborough Downs harness-racing track and the developer responsible for bringing Cabela's to the town are pushing a vote on slots in the town.  This time they are promising to create a new town center that would connect U.S. 1 and Payne Road. The allure of the mythical "Main Street" is something that may appeal to a number of Scarborough residents.

Casinos NO must now wage a war on two fronts -Western Maine and Scarborough.  In the last two front war, the folks at Casinos NO won one and they lost one.  They would argue that it wasn't really a loss, but more the case that they chose not to engage in the Slots referendum. The latest word from Casinos NO supporters is that they will not make that mistake this time.

At this point in the battle, Dennis Bailey and the Casinos NO folks have the numbers on their side.  Recent polling data has shown that a majority of Mainers are against the Oxford County Casino.  However, the proponents have plenty of money and will likely put together a talented campaign team, in both efforts.

Casinos NO will have to ramp up pretty quickly, raise a ton of money and develop a hard hitting campaign for two very different projects in the next six weeks.  Frankly, unless the big checks come in and come in soon for Casinos NO, they will likely get buried by the other two opponents.  Last time it was the Gormans, Mr.Sussman, the Monks and a handful of other deep pockets that provided the bulk of the cash for Casinos NO.  When PAC reports come out in a few weeks, we will soon learn if those same people are willing to fight again.

Meanwhile, Mainers should get ready for more campaign TV ads, assuming the Collins campaign has not already purchased all of the remaining air time.