Maine: Tom Allen

Rep. Chellie Pingree announced this morning that Jackie Potter will be the point person in her Portland office to "help Maine businesses, organizations and individuals understand and take advantage of federal funding from the Economic Recovery Package recently passed by Congress."

More from the press release:

"The Recovery Act makes provides for significant investments in the Maine economy," Pingree said. "We estimate 15,000 jobs will be created or saved over the next two years.  We will see investments in education, healthcare, construction and clean energy. But all of that isn't going to happen by itself and we will need to work hard to get this money into the economy quickly and efficiently.

This guy ran the numbers for the 2008 US Senate elections across the country and calculated the amount spent by each candidate per vote earned.

The results show that Tom Allen spent $21 for every vote he received in November, making his run the most costly unsuccessful major-party challenge to an incumbent anywhere in the country, per vote. Allen's votes were cheaper only compared to the candidates in tight races in Alaska and New Hampshire and incumbent Max Baucus' campaign in Montana.

Susan Collins spent more money, but also won a lot more votes, resulting in an expenditure of $17 per vote.

Those numbers pale in comparison to the third party per-vote expenditures.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) has received more money from the big three auto makers than anyone else in Maine's Congressional delegation, according to fundraising numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Congresswoman-elect Chellie Pingree (D-North Haven) is in the process of sorting through more than 200 resumes for the 18 positions allocated to her new federal and state offices.

Lisa Prosienski, who was her campaign manager, will be her chief of staff. Beyond that, no decisions have been made, Pingree said.

Pingree said she anticipates hiring campaign staffers to fill the vacancies. She said she also has received resumes from staffers in outgoing U.S. Rep. Tom Allen’s (D-Portland) offices.