Pete Harring, perhaps better known as Pete the Carpenter, is a Tea Party leader, owner of the Maine Refounders Web site, and one of the angriest and most inflammatory people in Maine politics.

Since he was nominated by the Republican House caucus as their candidate for Speaker last week, a steady drumbeat of stories from Maine media outlets have shed light on the investigation, legal proceedings and subsequent bankruptcy of Rep. Bob Nutting's pharmacy earlier this decade.

Despite his recent public statements and the op-ed he wrote for today's Wall Street Journal arguing against Maine's absentee and early voting program, Eliot Cutler himself has a history of voting early.

Al Diamon has an excellent post on Maine's political blogosphere over in his corner of Down East.com.

Here are my thoughts on the subject, from my conversation by email with Al on election day:

I'll be waiting a little bit to announce the full results of the prediction pool, as the last numbers come in and the last recounts are decided, but I've decided to do the Governor's race a bit early - mostly because that Red Claws game was coming up quickly and we needed to pick one of the winners to receive the prize.

So here are the results from the main event:

Democratic State Representative Michael Willette of District 5 in Presque Isle switched parties Friday, increasing the Republicans' majority in the House. Pending recounts, this will bring the GOP total to 78, with 72 Democrats and one unenrolled member. The move wasn't entirely unexpected. Willette's son Alexender ran successfully as a Republican in District 7 this election and Michael Willette had one of the most conservative voting histories among House democrats during the 124th Legislature.

A dismissive quote by Susan Collins on Sarah Palin's presidential plans in a recent Kenebec Journal column has received attention on national political blogs.

Republicans took the first steps toward taking formal control of state government today.

Governor-elect Paul LePage announced the members of his transition committe: Tarren Bragdon, head of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center; John Butera, executive director of the Central Maine Growth Council, a Waterville-based economic development organization; and Ann Robinson, an attorney for the Maine Republican Party. Together they will pave the way for him to assume the reins of the executive branch,

If there’s a lesson to be learned from the 2010 election in Maine, it’s that nice guys may not finish last, but they certainly don’t finish first.

Of course, it could be argued that there weren’t all that many nice guys – or gals – involved in the just-concluded campaigns. But there were candidates who pretended to be, and for the most part, they lost.

Most major media outlets in Maine will have coverage of election results on their websites as returns are reported. Last year, the newspapers had the best updating results feeds. Here are the election sites of the major dailies:

Maine Today Media

Sun Journal

Bangor Daily News

Both the Kennebec Journal and Sun Journal are holding live chats on their sites.