AUGUSTA -- Political lore abounds in an exciting election year such as this one, with Maine at the center of one saying in particular.

You've heard the old saw, "As Maine goes, so goes the nation."

What's behind it?

After establishing statehood in 1820, Maine decided to hold gubernatorial elections in September.

"The idea was, Maine people went to the polls in September because, by the time November rolled around, travel was difficult," State Historian Earle Shettleworth said.

So in 1840, when the state voted in Edward Kent, a Whig, as governor, the Whig Party took it as a sign that its presidential candidate, Gen. William Henry Harrison, the "hero of Tippecanoe," would win the presidential race two months later with his running mate, John Tyler.

The Whigs wrote this little ditty to spread the word:

"Oh, have you heard how old Maine went?

She went hell-bent for Governor Kent --

And Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"

Then, in November, Maine and the rest of the country elected Whig candidate Harrison, who defeated incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren. Thus the phrase from the Whigs: "As Maine goes, so goes the nation."

The Almanac of American Politics describes it this way: "In the days before polls, the results here were taken as a gauge of national partisan movement."

The slogan caught on, but as Time magazine pointed out in a 1957 article, Maine's gubernatorial choice accurately predicted the presidential outcome in only 17 of 29 elections from 1840 until the 1950s.

One of the years when the saying didn't hold up was 1936, when Mainers chose Republican Gov. Lewis Barrows in September but the vast majority of the country backed Democrat Franklin Roosevelt two months later.

Maine and Vermont's choice of Republican Alf Landon that year led Roosevelt's campaign manager to quip: "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont."

The saying was officially put to rest in 1957, when Maine voters decided to move the gubernatorial election to November, which began with the 1960 election.

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com