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Nine candidates have already committed to running in 2010, and four others say they're considering the idea.

By MATT WICKENHEISER, Staff Writer June 25, 2009

Maine's next gubernatorial election is more than a year away, but the field of candidates – and potential candidates – is growing.

Les Otten of Bethel, a longtime will-he-or-won't-he candidate, said this week that he will announce on Monday the formation of a committee to explore a run for governor.

Three others said this week that they are eyeing the governor's office: two-term state Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York; Portland businesswoman Rosa Scarcelli; and Eliot Cutler, a Cape Elizabeth lawyer who has been running his Washington, D.C., law firm's Beijing office since 2007.

The four would join an already crowded field of Democrats, Republicans, Green Independents and unenrolled candidates.

Two term-Gov. John Baldacci is barred by the state Constitution from seeking re-election.

Hill said Wednesday that she hasn't filed papers to run but will be a candidate. She said she has been researching a run and assembling a campaign team over the past six months.

Hill, 59, has served two terms in the Legislature. An attorney, she stopped practicing in the late 1980s and now owns It's a Dog's World in York, a training, day-care and activity center spread over seven acres.

"I love Maine; there's clearly a lot of problems with the state right now and more problems on the horizon," said Hill. "I really want to be a major force in getting Maine to a better place, forging its future."

Hill pointed to her work as a business owner and as a legislator, and said those experiences would be valuable to her as governor.

She noted, in particular, two pieces of successful legislation that she sponsored.

One enhanced shoreland zoning regarding fines for cutting of trees; the other required veterinarians who give rabies shots to dogs to send copies of the immunization records to the state animal welfare department, which forwards the records to cities and towns.

Cutler, 62, comes from a prominent Bangor family. Early in his career, he was a legislative assistant for U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie. He then served as counsel to the Senate subcommittee on the environment.

In those roles, he helped write the Clean Air Act, the Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, according to a biography on the Web site of Cutler's law firm, Akin Gump.

Cutler also was President Jimmy Carter's top official for environmental, natural resources and energy issues.

Cutler moved to Cape Elizabeth in 2000, he said in an e-mail interview. He opened his law firm's Beijing office in 2007 and has spent about 60 percent of his time there for the past two years.

Cutler said he and his wife, Melanie, are moving back to Maine this week.

Cutler said he has been urged by some of Maine's "political and community leaders" to run for governor, and he's considering a run as an independent. He said it's clear that change is needed in Augusta.

"I think that we need to control and shape Maine's destiny, rebuild our foundations, preserve what makes Maine such a great place to live, and invest in a future of opportunity for all Maine people," said Cutler, who has three grown children. "We are eating our seed corn. Maine's operating expenses are out of control, there is too much deferred maintenance, and we are continuing to disinvest."

Scarcelli, 39, is a Wilton native and a Portland resident. She is the owner and president of Stanford Management, a firm that manages affordable-housing properties.

Scarcelli, who has not held an elective office, said Wednesday that she is "seriously considering" a run for governor.

"Certainly, the next administration needs to be one that is focused on the fiscal side of our problems," said Scarcelli, who is married and has three young children. "Through my business, I'm across the state all the time. I hear from people they're ready for change, they want something new and they...