Maine’s Most Famous Summer Residents Endorse Its Governor

From Texas came word Wednesday night that George Bush the elder and his wife, Barbara, have endorsed Maine’s governor, Paul R. LePage, in his hard-fought bid for re-election.

The Bushes, of course, summer in Kennebunkport, Me., and have other longstanding ties to the state.

Less known are any links between the patrician Bushes, once the embodiment of moderate Republicanism, and the rougher-hewn Mr. LePage, who was backed by the Tea Party.

But in a statement, the Bushes provided a clue to their endorsement: “We especially admire the tenacity with which Paul implemented his plan to pay off the state’s debt to its hospitals, which included both the Dorothy Walker Bush Pavilion at Southern Maine Medical Center as well as the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center.” (Dorothy Walker Bush was the former president’s mother.)

Mr. LePage is running neck and neck in the polls with Representative Michael H. Michaud, the Democratic nominee, while a third candidate, Eliot Cutler, an independent, is trailing.