The poll first reported on last night by the Portland Press Herald, which shows Libby Mitchell at 20%, independent Eliot Cutler at 19% and Republican Paul LePage leading them both with 32%, is certainly a departure from previous surveys and must, at this point, be considered an outlier until more polling is done. (Both PPP and CI are back in the field next week.)

The blog AsMaineGoesLolz.com is an example of one of my favorite kinds of websites: the single-topic, single-author labor of love. Except, instead of chronicling the history of PacMan or exhibiting a collection of fast food condiment packages, the anonymous Lolz author monitors and examines the goings-on at the right-wing online forum As Maine Goes.

A new poll conducted by Pan Atlantic SMS shows a close race between Libby Mitchell and Paul LePage. LePage is ahead with 32.9% of the vote and Mitchell is slightly behind with 28%. Independent Eliot Cutler comes in at third place with 14%, Shawn Moody is at 4.6% and Kevin Scott garners just .4% of the vote, with 20.2% of those surveyed still undecided.

Independent gubernatorial candidate Kevin Scott more than octupled his support in just a few days, if you believe his internal poll.

His campaign paid for a robopoll survey through Rasmussen's do-it-yourself polling service, asked a queston that left the other independent candidates off the ballot, and found his support level at eight percent. The most recent Critical Insights poll before his found him at 0 percent.

Anti-casino forces are on the air with a new ad asserting that the casino proposal doesn't add up to backers' claims:

Two new polls of the Maine governor's race were released yesterday, with similar results among the frontrunners but very different numbers for undecided voters and support for non-party candidates.

A Rasmussen Reports one-day survey of 500 likely voters found Paul Lepage with 35%, Libby Mitchell with 32% and Eliot Cutler with 21% of the vote. 6% preferred another candidate and 6% were undecided.

The Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund has launched a new TV ad and accompanying Web site targeting Paul LePage for his positions on a variety of environmental issues.

FactsonPaulLePage.org faults the Republican candidate for his statements on drilling for oil off the Maine coast, limiting wind power, supporting nuclear power plants, and proposing the elimination of a variety of environmental regulations.

A Political Action Committee formed by friends and allies of independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler has launched a new ad to support his campaign.

According to a note by Susan Cover, "members of the PAC include Tony Buxton and Jon Doyle, attorneys and State House lobbyists; Jean Gulliver, former chairwoman of the Maine Board of Education; and Kay Rand, a public affairs consultant and former chief of staff for independent Gov. Angus King."

Pine Tree Politics, the conservative-leaning blog authored by NRSC staffer Matt Gagnon, has broken new ground in the coverage of Maine politics. On Saturday it became the first Maine blog to pay for and release a public opinion poll.

There's a lot of discussion today on whether or not independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler actually has a hope of winning the governor's race.

In an article that appeared on the front pages of the MaineToday papers this morning, reporter Tom Bell takes a look at history:

In his first election, King was behind in every poll until the last week. By this time in the campaign, however, a poll showed he had 31 percent of the vote, behind only Democrat Joe Brennan.