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sat down at our usual table by the windows in the
back.
    Michael and Kathleen are much more committed
to politics than I am. They are true activists. They emerged from
the ‘60’s without doubting their course, and never looked back. In
quiet ways, I admire their tenacity and their persistent drive for
fairness and right action. That drive has mellowed and matured for
them both over the years, but the fire is still there, and the
water in the cauldron boils up and spills over the pot now and
again. Almost certainly that will be happening over this event,
once the shockwaves subside. But for now, they just looked
dumbstruck.
    All four of us liked our governor, William
Lavoilette. Elected three and a half years earlier, he was a breath
of fresh air in Maine politics. He was young, maybe 45 years old,
personable, and governed in an independent way. He was not the
pride of the powerful corporate sector, and some extreme religious
groups ridiculed him, but a majority of Mainers liked him well
enough. He was favored to win reelection in the fall, unless
something unexpected happened. Now it had.
    William Lavoilette was affable and handsome,
even dashing by the conservative standards of Maine. There was
considerable money in his parents’ family, but he had also managed
to do well in his own business ventures. He loved the sea and
developed a small fleet of whale watching and sport fishing boats
along Maine’s rugged coast.
    Although the rest of the dining room was
buzzing loudly, we sat quietly for quite a while, which is totally
out of character for us. We spoke briefly with our waitress to
place our orders, and nibbled on the muffins that were already on
the table when we sat down. We were lost in contemplation,
oblivious to our immediate surroundings. Collectively, our thoughts
began to form into a single question, “Who could have done
this?”
    Michael spoke first, “Politically, William
Lavoilette had a few enemies, of course, but nothing out of the
ordinary. No one comes to mind who would possibly resort to
murder.”
    Michael paused and then went on, “The
‘titans’ of industry found him to be a little too pro environment,
but he was not an extremist. He recognized that Maine’s natural
beauty is important for tourism. The ocean, the lakes, and the
clean rural countryside puts the bread—and potatoes—on the
table.”
    It was a stroke of luck that William
Lavoilette had been elected governor in the first place. The
sitting governor, Clayton Andrews, had been running for reelection.
I guess you might say that he was, and still is, a typical,
professional politician. He governed from the middle as best he
could. He allowed both the winds of public opinion and the tides of
corporate money to steer his ship of state. For decades that
strategy had worked well, not just in Maine, but throughout the
country. Now, that status quo doesn’t seem to apply anymore.
Extreme views and cranky contenders have wormed their way into
politics across America, even Down East.
    Governor Andrews was outflanked on his right
by John David Fickett. Fickett barely lost to Andrews in the June
state primary. Miffed at his loss, he ran as an Independent,
thereby splitting the popular vote into three shares. William
Lavoilette prevailed with 38% of the vote.
    The Maine Constitution does not provide for a
runoff in the event that no candidate receives a clear majority of
the votes cast for governor. A plurality will do. This opens the
door on both sides of the aisle when a popular independent throws
his hat into the ring. Those are, I suppose, the risks and the
possible rewards on today’s political landscape. This is not an age
of civility and common ground in politics, assuming there ever was
such an age.
    By the time our waitress arrived with our
meals, silence had once again descended upon our table. She checked
with us to see if everything was all right. We nodded in unison and
thanked her, and then the quiet resumed, broken only by