Maine wasn’t generally a place for covering national politics. But that wasn’t always the case. Sometimes national candidates came to Maine for campaign stops. Other times they came to vacation or to hang out at their summer homes. That was the case with both the Bush family and the Rockefellers. I covered Nelson Rockefeller a number of times and spent hours on more than one occasion at his summer home in the Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Island area.

In this case, you’ll note that I mention his arrive at Bar Harbor Airport, and how he went to his summer home to do some work. What I didn’t mention is that he had a bus waiting for the press corps at the airport, and that it drove us away to a fancy restaurant where we were fed a very opulent lobster dinner. That’s not something that would be allowed today, but I don’t think we thought much about it at the time. It was paid out of Rockefeller’s pocket, and I was told it was something that he did regularly for the press corps that followed him. After lunch, we were bused to his waterfront home.

 Rockefeller still 2^nd spot possibility

By ARTHUR FREDERICK

SEAL HARBOR, Maine (UPI) – Members of the Northeast Republican Chairmen’s Association have put Vice President Nelson Rockefeller’s name on a list of eight persons who could serve as President Ford’s running mate.

“The list is confidential,” said New York GOP chairman Richard Rosenbaum. “We want a candidate who will broaden the appeal of the ticket, but we are not getting into specific people on the list.”

“Vice President Rockefeller is on the list,” he added. “There’s a great feeling about him with the association.”

The list was requested by Ford, and the party leader stresses it was intended only to help him make up his mind.

Rockefeller arrived at tiny Bar Harbor Airport in a big DC-9 Monday, climbed into a black limousine and drove to his summer home for a day of work.

Members of the association met with him for more than two hours in his imposing glass-and-stone hideaway and came up with the list which will be sent to Ford.

Rockefeller has written to the President, asking that his name not be considered, but some observers feel the move was made to give Ford the option of choosing a new running mate. The vice president has not said he would not accept the nomination.

“I went to Washington expecting nothing but to preside over the Senate and act as an assistant to the President,” Rockefeller aid Monday. “I have been satisfied and deeply honored to do just that.”