Bill Cohen’s 1972 Campaign for Congress: An Oral History of the Walk That Changed Maine Politics

Political scientist Potholm (This Splendid Game) and Rowman & Littlefield CEO Lyons revisit a groundbreaking congressional campaign in this amiable oral history. In 1972, 32-year-old Republican candidate Bill Cohen faced an uphill battle for Maine’s second congressional district: Democrats controlled all but one of the state’s major elected political offices, and the Maine Republican Party was viewed as “moribund, old, and out-of-touch.” To help improve Cohen’s visibility and showcase his youth, vigor, and blue-collar background, campaign manager Potholm proposed a 650-mile walk across the largely rural district, which stretches from the New Hampshire border to the Canadian border and “comprises 80 percent of the state’s geography.” Lyons, then an undergraduate at Bowdoin College, served as one of the campaign’s advance men. In digressive conversations with former campaign staffers, Cohen, Potholm, and Lyons discuss the complicated logistics of the walk, which involved spending each night with a different Maine family; share amusing anecdotes about blistered feet, uncooperative horses, and awkward sleeping arrangements; and detail Cohen’s subsequent legislative accomplishments and the campaign’s influence on Maine politics. Niche yet perceptive, this is an illuminating look back at a less polarized political era. (Oct.)