Tea party activist and Harpswell-based writer Andrew Ian Dodge is challenging Maine’s U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe in the 2012 Republican primaries.

In November 2012, Snowe is running for a fourth term. In November 2006, she was re-elected to a third six-year term in the U.S. Senate with 74 percent of the vote. Before her election to the Senate, Olympia Snowe represented Maine’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years.

But tea party activists sense an opening. According to Dodge’s website (http://www.electthedodge.com), “Prior to his run for office, Andrew was a leader in Maine’s Tea Party movement. He organized the first registered tea party event in Maine, which took place in Augusta on April 15, 2009. Andrew has also represented Maine at national conventions of Tea Party supporters, and has had a major hand in deciding strategy for the movement.”

The Portland Daily Sun sat down with Dodge this week to discuss his candidacy, the tea party movement and Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who has endorsed Snowe. Dodge started by confirming he is no longer coordinating the Tea Party Patriots (http://www.teapartypatriots.org/state/Maine) as he seeks to shake up the Republican primary:

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The Portland Daily Sun