A new poll released Wednesday by Critical Insights, a Maine-based public opinion research firm, finds that 51 percent of respondents in its fall tracking survey plan to vote in favor of Question 1 on November's ballot or have already done so. Question 1 is a people's veto seeking to reject a new law banning voter registration on Election Day and for four days beforehand.

In the spirit of the season, here's a photo from Rep. Jon Hinck's facebook page. Perhaps a sign he's ready to take the plunge for the 2012 senate race.

One or both of Hinck and Matt Dunlap should be announcing their intentions soon. If it becomes a race, look for their first financial reports to be an important milestone. Both potential candidates will have to make an electability argument and prove they can take on Snowe and her warchest.

There’s some irony to the fact that at the same time that large groups of people are now taking to streets and parks and the open air to protest the role of money, particularly corporate money, in politics, some very important decisions about exactly this issue are being made in the sheltered corridors of Maine’s statehouse.

As the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York grows in size and attention (in Jon Stewart's words the media has moved "its coverage dial from blackout to circus"), a spin-off occupation has developed in downtown Portland.

The Portland-based movement now apparently includes a hard-core cadre of full timers who have set up tents in nearby Lincoln Park and a diverse group of supporters who have been stopping by to protest, march, or just join the "occupation," as the group dubs its presence in Monument Square.