The Portland Press Herald did not charge the Portland Regional Chamber for $46,507.74 in political advertising the chamber placed on behalf of the Elect Our Mayor - Yes On 1 campaign in November, in which Portlanders narrowly decided to have a popularly elected mayor. (Image of the form is below.)

Whether this is a donation to the campaign on the part of the Press Herald - or a donation to the chamber on the paper's part - is at present unclear.

Eliot Cutler just finished his concession speech at his Commercial Street headquarters. (His staff had already begun clearing it out before the speech.)

About an hour earlier, he'd called Paul LePage to concede the race.

- "So close," someone said by way of greeting. "Close doesn't count," he said dryly before approaching the podium.

Last week, I wrote about the campaign to bring an elected-mayor system to Portland.

Earlier this week, Cheryl Leeman and the Citizens to Retain Responsible Government held a press conference stating their opposition to such a proposal. They cited cost as their primary concern, saying that establishing such an office would cost about $150,000; the Elect Our Mayor; Yes on One campaign said the elected mayor's $60,000 salary would be "very modest."

Yes, you heard it here first - Mainers vote the way former Massachusetts governors ask them to. (Most of the people of Maine do really live in Northern Massachusetts anyway, you know...)

So we're very relieved that Mitt Romney, failed Republican presidential candidate, has made endorsements in major election races in Maine

No, we're not prognosticating on who is going to win.

But if you want to learn about what the gubernatorial candidates think about the arts and the "creative economy" there's just one place to go:

www.MeetTheGovernor.com

Andres Verzosa of Aucocisco Galleries has taken it upon himself to interview each of the candidates on their views on the arts and creativity in Maine, and has posted the video of those conversations online.

The League of Young Voters is soliciting questions for Maine's gubernatorial candidates, to be asked at a forum on Wednesday, April 14th, from 7-9 pm, at the Public Market House in Monument Square. (note: our Best of Portland party is the same night, at Port City Music Hall -- why not swing by both events?) So far, Libby Mitchell, Rosa Scarcelli, and Steve Rowe have all agreed to attend; organizers are confident that most of the other candidates -- including Dems John Richardson and Patrick McGowan and Republicans Les Otten, Peter Mills, Steve Abbott, and several others (find a full list of candidates here) -- will also be present.

Domestic-violence and GLBT-equality activist/organizer Jill Barkley is running for Maine representative; she'll offiically announce her candidacy at the North Star on Sunday (and yes, PPH commenter, the North Star is actually JUST within her hopeful district lines). The 28-year-old, who works as public awareness and policy coordinator at the Maine Coaltion to End Domestic Violence, hoping to represent District 119, a compact zone that covers downtown/Parkside/Bayside and is currently served by longtime politician Herb Adams (his term is up this year).

Ben Chipman, a Green party member on Portland's Charter Commission, reports that the commission has preliminarily moved toward recommending instant-runoff voting as the method for selecting the city's mayor.

While there are legitimate concerns about IRV (as Al Diamon notes - though he misses another major criticism, which is the lack of proportional representation achieved through IRV), it does have the advantage of allowing people to vote for third-party candidates who may well lose, without feeling like they've wasted their vote when it could also have supported a like-minded major-party candidate.

Out and about snapping photos for our election issue (hitting the streets tomorrow) this morning, I encountered this man in Deering Oaks Park. I didn't have a notebook or anything with me, but here's a sketch of who he is: He lives in Portland, and those are his flags. He brought them to the park, along with the chair he's leaning on as he prays, after several of his Yes on One signs were stolen -- he's keeping vigil (since Thursday!) over the new crop that's shown here.

With one week left before Election Day on Tuesday, November 3 (HOW is it almost November?), activists on all sides are pulling out their last-minute strategies. And local media outlets are overflowing with opinions too. (You can see our election coverage in this week's issue.)

At 10 a.m. tomorrow, Governor John Baldacci will speak in Bangor in favor of gay marriage and against ballot question #1.

Good morning! As voting gets going around the state, here are some early updates from Portland and South Portland.

But first, here's how to be prepared in case you run into any problems voting.

South Portland - the Community Center parking lot was completely jammed at 8 am, with traffic just starting to back up in the streets nearby.

There are two things to do to minimize the likelihood of having problems voting:

Rule 1) Bring a cell phone to the polls, and make sure it's fully charged. That way, you can call any of the voter-support hotlines right away if need be. Don't rely on a friend or a pay phone, because of Rule 2:

Rule 2) Don't leave the polling place until you are certain your ballot has been cast properly, and that it's for the people you intended to vote for.