Talk:As Maine goes, so goes the nation

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Was it really a bellweather state?[edit]

Looking at the maps of Presidential elections since 1860, the impression I get is that Maine was a normally reliable Republican state, only going Democrat on rare occasions in unusual circumstances (e.g. 1912) and being one of the few to stay Republican in 1932. Was it really a bellweather state or was it the frequent Republican victories over seventy years that gave an artificial impression? Timrollpickering 19:55, 16 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's really irrelevant whether, scientifically, it was a bellwether state, merely that it was at one time considered to be a bellwether state. --Xinoph 03:16, 22 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The alternative view, stated in secondary sources, is that even though it was a reliably Republican state, with the early election the *size* of the Republican win in Maine would be a useful bellwether. Since it was reliably Republican, a close-fought Republican win would still predict a relatively good national year for Democrats when the rest of the country held its elections two months later. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.28.41.34 (talk) 14:46, 2 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This is explained at the beginning of the article itself: it wasn't considered a bellwether in the sense that it tended to vote for the winning presidential candidate, but rather that the September gubernatorial election tended to predict which party would win the upcoming presidential election a couple of months later. marbeh raglaim (talk) 22:36, 2 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Needs sources[edit]

I just added the {{verify}} tag to this article, as it has no sources at all right now. | Klaw ¡digame! 22:23, 17 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Major Revision Needed[edit]

I am fairly certain the quote is not, "As Maine Goes, So Goes the Nation," but in fact the quote was "As Ohio Goes, So Goes the Nation." Ohio was the state whose voting pattern reflected the voting pattern of the Nation.

The "As Maine Goes, So Goes Vermont" was meant as a joke, because when FDR ran for President, he won the popular vote in all states except for Maine and Vermont. Hence, "As Main Goes, So Goes Vermont," was a mockery of the original quote.

Look at this article for a start, until I can find better sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030503510.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Matthew Biebel (talk • contribs) 02:09, 1 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I found this reference to DNC Chairman Jim Farley's post-election quip that "as Maine goes, so goes Vermont" here (from The Dispatch of Lexington, North Carolina, front page, first column, Thursday, November 5, 1936)

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3BkcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EVEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5923,4627790&dq=so-goes-vermont&hl=en

FDR jokingly commented that he should never have followed Farley's advice not to campaign in Vermont.

—— Shakescene (talk) 21:39, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]