Race and Ancestry

The racial makeup of the state is:

• 96.5% White non-Hispanic
• 0.7% Hispanic
• 0.7% Asian
• 0.5% Black
• 0.6% American Indian
• 1% Mixed race

The five largest ancestries in the state are: English (21.5%), Irish (15.1%), French (14.2%), American (9.4%), French Canadian (8.6%). Maine is second only to New Hampshire in the percentage of French Canadians. It also has the largest percentage of non-Hispanic whites of any state and the highest percentage of current French-speakers. Franco-Mainers tended to settle in the industrial cities of inland Maine (especially Lewiston) whereas much of the midcoast and downeast sections remain strongly Anglo. Smaller numbers of various other groups including Germans, Irish, and Italians settled around the state.

As of 2000, 92.2% of Maine residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 5.3% speak French. Spanish is the third most spoken language at 0.8%, followed by German at 0.3% and Italian at 0.1%.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Maine are shown below:

• Christian – 82%
  • Protestant – 56%
    • Baptist – 16%
    • Methodist – 9%
    • Pentecostal – 6%
    • Church of Christ – 3%
    • Lutheran – 3%
    • Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
  • Roman Catholic – 25%
  • Other Christian – 1%
• Other Religions – 1%
• Non-Religious – 17%

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maine's total gross state product for 2003 was US$41 billion. Its per capita personal income for 2003 was US$29,164, 29th in the nation.

Maine's agricultural outputs are seafood (notably lobsters), poultry and eggs, dairy products, cattle, blueberries, apples, and maple sugar. Aroostook County is known for its potato crops. Western Maine aquifers and springs are a major source of bottled water. Its industrial outputs consist of mainly paper, lumber and wood products, electronic equipment, leather products, food products, textiles, and bio-technology. Naval shipbuilding and construction remain key as well, with Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Yard in Kittery. Brunswick Naval Air Station is also in Maine, and serves as a large support base for the U.S. Navy. However, the BRAC campaign recommended Brunswick's closing, despite significant recent investment by the government to upgrade its facilities.

Maine ports play a key role in national transportation. Beginning around 1880, Portland's rail link and ice-free port made it Canada's principal winter port, until the aggressive development of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the mid-1900s. In 2001, Maine's largest city of Portland surpassed Boston as New England's busiest port (by tonnage), due to its ability to handle large tankers. Maine's Portland International Jetport was recently expanded, providing the state with increased air traffic from carriers such as jetBlue.

Maine has a small trapping industry which, with 3,157 resident trappers, is larger than that of most Eastern states (Source: Portland Press Herald, January 23, 2005. Note: Many trappers are part-time). The principal pelt taken by value is beaver. Historically, however, beaver trapping was much more significant in the North Woods and Canadian Maritimes than the small industry of today and was the cause of much early wealth and many trading settlements.

Maine has very few large companies that maintain headquarters in the state, and fewer than before due to consolidations and mergers, particularly in the pulp and paper industry. Structurally, this could be a weakness in an economy that depends on extracting forest and sea resources, because decisions that affect the long-range stability of the resource base are being made in distant locations which do not have to live with the day-to-day consequences of their policies. Some of the very few large companies that do maintain headquarters in Maine include Fairchild Semiconductor (South Portland) , IDEXX Laboratories (a large veterinary biotech company in Westbrook), insurance giant Unum Provident (Portland) and the famous outdoor supply retailer L. L. Bean (Freeport). Maine is also the home of The Jackson Laboratory, a non-profit institution and the world's largest mammalian genetic research facility.

Maine has an income tax structure containing 4 brackets, which range from 2 percent to 8.5 percent of personal income. Maine's general sales tax rate is 5 percent. • The state also levies charges of 7 percent on lodging and prepared food and 10 percent on short-term auto rentals. Commercial sellers of blueberries, a Maine staple, must keep records of their transactions and pay the state 1.5 cents per pound ($1.50 per 100 pounds) of the fruit sold each season. All real and tangible personal property located in the state of Maine is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. While property taxes in Maine are assessed at the local level, municipal assessors are governed by state statutes that are administered by the Property Tax Division of Maine Revenue Services. The division consists of two sections: Municipal Services and Unorganized Territory. The administration of property taxes is handled by the local assessor in incorporated cities and towns. Property tax bills are issued by the municipality where the property is located on either an annual, semi-annual or quarterly basis. Property taxes in unorganized territory are handled by the State Tax Assessor.

Transportation

Interstate highway I-95 runs through Maine.

Law and government

See also: List of Governors of Maine, U.S. Senators from Maine, List of Maine State Senators, and As Maine goes, so goes the country

The Maine State Constitution created Maine's government system, with three co-equal branches - the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The state of Maine also has three Constitutional Officers (the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, and the State Attorney General) and one Statutory Officer (the State Auditor). The Executive Branch is responsible for execution of the laws created by the legislature and is headed by the Governor (currently John Baldacci (Democrat)). The governor is elected every four years, and no individual may serve more than two consecutive terms in this office. The Judicial Branch is responsible for interpreting the laws and is headed by the Supreme Judicial Court. All judicial officers are appointed by the governor and serve a term of 7 years. The Legislative Branch is responsible for making the laws and is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 35 members who are elected every 2 years, and the House has 151 members who are also elected every two years.

Its two U.S. senators are Susan Collins (Republican) and Olympia Snowe (Republican).

Politics

Maine's politics are notable and are dramatic for several reasons. In the 1930s, it was one of very few states which remained dominated by the Republican Party. In the 1936 Presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt received the electoral votes of every state other than Maine and Vermont. In the 1960s, Maine began to lean toward the Democrats, especially in Presidential elections. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey became just the second Democrat in half a century to carry Maine thanks to the presence of his running mate, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie. Maine has since become a left-leaning swing state, but has voted Democratic in four straight Presidential elections, casting its votes for Bill Clinton twice, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry (with 53.6% of the vote) in 2004. Republican strength is greatest in Washington and Piscataquis counties. Though Democrats have carried the state in presidential elections in recent years, Republicans have largely maintained their control of the state's U.S. Senate seats, with Ed Muskie and George Mitchell being the only Maine Democrats serving in the U.S. Senate in the past fifty years.

Maine voters tend to accept independent and third-party candidates more frequently than most states. Maine has had two independent governors recently (James B. Longley, 1975–1979 and Angus King, 1995–2003). The Reform Party of Ross Perot achieved a great deal here in the presidential elections of 1992 and 1996: in 1992 Perot came in second to Bill Clinton, despite the longtime presence of the Bush family summer home in Kennebunkport, and in 1996, Maine was again Perot's best state.

The Green Party candidate won nine percent of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial election, more than in any election for a statewide office for that party. The Green Party also elected John Eder to the office of State Representative in Maine, its highest elected official nationwide. Maine politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, are noted for having more moderate views than many in their party.

Since 1969, two of Maine's four electoral votes are awarded based on the winner of the statewide election. The other two go to the highest vote-winner in each of the state's two congressional districts.

Famous politicians from Maine include James Blaine, Edmund Muskie, Margaret Chase Smith, William Cohen, George J. Mitchell, John Baldacci, Olympia Snowe, Hannibal Hamlin, Susan Collins, Owen Brewster, and Percival Baxter.

Maine is an Alcoholic beverage control state.

Important cities and towns

Education

Colleges and universities

Professional sports teams

• Portland Sea Dogs, minor league baseball, Eastern League (U.S. baseball)
• Portland Pirates, minor league hockey, American Hockey League
• Lewiston MAINEiacs, junior hockey, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Miscellaneous topics

Maine has a long tradition of personal self-reliance, and Yankee ingenuity. It is probably named after the French province of Maine. Another possibility for the name "Maine" is that the people living on islands along the coast of Maine used to speak of going to the mainland as "going over to the Main."

Four U.S. Navy ships have been named USS Maine in honor of the state.

The noted American ecologist Rachel Carson did much of her research at one of the Maine seacoast's most characteristic features, a tide pool for her classic "The Edge of the Sea." The spot where she conducted observations is now preserved as the Rachel Carson Salt Pond Reserve at Pemaquid Point.

Maine is the number one exporter of blueberries and toothpicks. Maine is the only state that borders only one other U.S. state (New Hampshire). Cadillac Mountain sees the first sunlight in America each morning. [1] Maine has 62 lighthouses.

State symbols

• State bird: Black-capped Chickadee
• State flower: White Pinecone and Tassel
• State tree: White Pine
• State mammal: Moose
• State insect: Honeybee
• State fish: Landlocked Salmon
• State song: State of Maine Song
• State cat: Maine Coon
• State soft drink: Moxie
• State number: 23
• State soil: Chesunook soil series

Aroostook War

In 1839 Governor Fairfield declared war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine. Known as the Aroostook War, this is the only time a state has declared war on a foreign power. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.

Famous Mainers

A citizen of Maine is known as a "Mainer," though the term "Down Easter" may be applied to residents of the northeast coast of the state.

See also

• List of Maine painters
• List of Maine land patents
• Fauna of Maine
• List of ZIP Codes in Maine
• Maine, ancestor of the Irish dynasty The Ui Maine

External links