There are reportedly six candidates lining up to head the Democratic Party in Maine.

We hope the winning candidate, or candidates, can put the state party back on the high road and declare an end to the negative campaigning we saw in the last election.

Both Republicans and Democrats have long deployed attack ads, but the most vicious have usually come from the national rather than state party.

Occasionally Maine candidates have even distanced themselves from ads purchased ostensibly to help them win, realizing that they often backfire with Maine voters.

In November’s race for governor, however, the Maine Democratic Party seemed to be breaking new ground by deploying two extremely misleading campaign ads against independent candidate Eliot Cutler.

Cutler, a Bangor native, built a long career in and out of government and was a partner in a large Washington law firm.

At one point, Cutler was selected to open the firm’s office in Beijing, China, and worked there for several years.

Other lawyers at his firm, meanwhile, represented an oil company, although Cutler did not.

Based on that, the Maine Democratic Party generated one mailer ad showing images of oil-soaked pelicans, suggesting Maine might become the site of the next BP oil spill if Cutler were elected.

Cutler, meanwhile, pointed out that he had long championed environmental causes and had worked with Maine U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie on the original Clean Water Act.

At one point in the campaign, Edmund Muskie Jr. flew from D.C. to Maine to defend Cutler’s environmental record.

“My father would be shocked that this party, the party he built in Maine, the party that invokes his name every year at a major fundraising event, would stoop this low,” said Muskie’s son.

Meanwhile, the fact that Cutler had worked in China on behalf of Chinese and U.S. firms, also became a negative.

Another Democratic Party mailer showed an open fortune cookie with the fortune reading, “Maine jobs could go to China” if Cutler were elected.

Incredibly, Cutler’s international experience was turned into a negative, as if he would run for governor just to help grow Chinese businesses.

Mainers should have seen his wide-ranging experience in law, government and, yes, overseas as an advantage for any state trying to build an international export economy.

Eventually, the attack ads failed miserably. Democratic governor candidate Libby Mitchell finished a distant third in a five-way race.

Janet Mills, most recently attorney general for Maine, is one of the two candidates running for vice chairman of the Democratic Party in Maine, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Mills is from western Maine and has served with distinction as a legislator and prosecutor.

While we are not as familiar with the other candidates vying for the position, Mills would be a good person to help put the beleaguered party back on track.

editorialboard@sunjournal.com