Democrat U.S. Rep. Tom Allen’s decision to run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in next year’s general election has spurned interest and activity from a bevy of men and women. Yes, that’s nexy year’s election, some 15 months down the street, when we’ll also elect a new president.

Following the rambunctious strength of the Democrats in the 2006 elections, the 2008 contest is expected to play out on the same theme – dwindling support for the Bush administration and the unending conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. You might think that this scenario would enhance the campaign of Allen, yet most people I’ve talked with feel that Collins’s outstanding record will carry a lot of weight at the polls. Should she, in any way, distance herself from the current Middle East policy, she’d have an even greater weapon.

Both Collins and Allen have been strong voices for Maine, but if the election were held today, national sentiment could very well tip preference in Allen’s favor.

The Democrats trampled the Republicans in the off-year election of 2006, but they’ve not been able to make positive steps with their majority. In our own back yard, our Democratic Legislature failed to enact positive tax reform and dropped the ball on things such as Tina’s Law. These could impact in 2008, if not overridden by national happenings.

In any event, things could change before the ’08 confrontation at the polls, both at the state and national levels.

With the White House up for grabs, both parties have fielded a growing number of potential candidates. Raising money and spending it like a budget gone south, they’ve even sparked a series of “debates” and stumped the country as if the election were next Tuesday.

Often boring and always repetitious, each group follows its own pattern. The business-as-usual war in Iraq holds center stage with little positive resolution coming from either party and the leading candidates of today could easily burn themselves out before November 2008.

The Republicans, many of whom actively supported the Middle East war a few years ago, are now attempting to disengage themselves by stating the war has been mismanaged or misdirected, while at the same time remaining loyal to party adherence. It sometimes comes off as a vote-grabbing charade.

No matter your personal feelings, after more than five years of unending conflict in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the war is the most compelling issue in the country today and certain to be a major factor in the 2008 elections, even at the state level.

Potential Democratic candidates for the Oval Office have their own agenda for dissent. With opposition to the war in Iraq as a main thrust, oratory here has often bordered on pure election hysteria. Some, either within debate or while touring the country, have advocated bringing the troops home now, this very instant, so to speak. While this is a gleeful acquiescence to those opposing the conflict, it shows a complete lack of understanding of military logistics on the part of the candidate. You cannot overnight simply withdraw several thousand troops from field operations. Even we veterans of another cauldron know that. Yet the rush for leadership of the cumbersome field goes on with each debate or state-by-state hustling.

If it hasn’t commenced already, mail and telephone solicitation for your vote – money, that is – will be a huge part of the picture.

Most vexing of all will be those cussed pre-recorded appeals.

You know the drill, I’m sure.

You’ve settled down for the evening meal, after a normal and crowded day, the telephone gets in the way before the first sip of iced tea.

A coaxing voice, male or female, after a folksy greeting, moves into the appeal. Since a Senate race has national implications, we can expect an infusion of outside funds in the Allen-Collins race, as well as recorded telephone messages from party heavyweights. Included therein will be the anticipated appeal for funds, all carefully crafted to usurp your evening meal.

Within all this gab-gobble and scrambling of the political hopefuls, we must not forget the things soon to appear on the scene – bumper stickers! The other day, a car whizzed by me on the connector with a Bush/Cheney sticker on the back bumper.

Stay tuned. It gets better.