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FREEPORT – Campaigning in Freeport Saturday, 1st Congressional District candidate Chellie Pingree (D-North Haven) said that through the 18 months she has been on the trail, the conversation has changed drastically.

In the beginning – facing a six-way primary – she said the debate centered on the Iraq War and energy policy. Now – especially with the recent Wall Street bailout – it focuses almost entirely on the economy.

There are ten days left until Election Day, and Pingree said she’s ready for it to be over.

Pingree made two stops in Freeport, and then headed to Rockland. It was retail politics – first a small candidate meet-and-greet at the community center, then a children’s Halloween Party at a local general store.

She said she planned to spend Sunday with her family, and then the next eight days campaigning around the district and debating her opponent, Charlie Summers (R-Scarborough), several times.

Pingree’s race with Summers has been a quiet one – overshadowed by the presidential race and the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) and U.S. Rep. Tom Allen (D-Portland).

Pingree ran against Collins in 2002 in a highly publicized race, and said that the lack of publicity has been nice this time around.

If she wins, Pingree said she couldn’t pick out a single biggest priority that she’d like to accomplish first in Congress since there are so many issues to address. She said her first committee choice would be the Armed Services committee.

The campaign hasn’t focused much on her previous work as President of Common Cause, however she said she would continue to advocate for their agenda. A priority for her, she said, will be to advocate for public financing in federal elections, and develop a system like Maine’s Clean Election’s law.

She said she also wants to look at election laws to develop federal standards for elections and voting machines.

Throughout the primary and general election campaigns, Pingree has been targeted by her opponents for accepting money from Donald Sussman, the manager of a Connecticut hedge fund, and his employees.

She said she gets donations because her donors approve of where she stands on the issues.

“No donor or friend will influence my vote,” she said, adding that voters will get a chance to judge her in her first term.

Sussman owns a house in Maine and has given thousands of dollars to the Maine Democratic Party and other political campaigns, and also has given to philanthropic causes in the state, Pingree said.