The Portland Phoenix January 24 - 31, 2002

GRASSROOTS

ART IMITATES POLITICS:
CHUTE AND KUBIAK GET REEL
By Jess Kilby

There have been documentary films made about political campaigns before (The War Room, for example). There have been Hollywood productions that ape the process and its inherent moral ambiguity ( Bulworth, The Candidate). But rarely (if ever) has a docu-drama been made about a real political campaign that was initiated for the sole purpose of making a movie about a political campaign.

In short: Carolyn Chute is running for governor. This isn't exactly breaking news - hell, the Waterboro Public Library makes note of it on their website, and DC's Political Report dutifully lists Chute amongst the rest of the third-party candidates in Maine's 2002 gubernatorial race (following "pastor Steven Farssaci" [sic] as "author/militia member Carolyn Chute" and linking to a quaint 1996 Salon article for more information, rather than to an official campaign site.)

What's news (or at least new) is the fact that Chute has a running mate, in fellow anti-corporate activist David Kubiak. And that the two are making a movie called Countercoup about their run as co-candidates for the highest office in the state, with (among other activities) mock town meetings in each county where residents will be asked to "pretend" to talk about their concerns for a common future.

The whole thing is a bit tongue-in-cheek, you see - in that semi-serious, populist way for which Chute and Kubiak are known. As Kubiak explains via email, "all events are staged for the movie, but attract 'real' citizens, 'real' journalists, and 'real' public attention to [the campaign] issues (e.g., the corporate coup d'état in Augusta and Washington, the corporate takeover of our mass media, and Maine's urgent need to secede from Corporate America's political control)." Chute and Kubiak will be attempting to collect enough signatures and $5 donations to qualify for Clean Election money, the better to "add more realism to the 'film.'

How they'll pull off a two-person ticket is a mystery, because, as Domna Gattis of the Secretary of State's office points out, you can't really do that. (Candidates can only put one name on each application for Clean Election funding; likewise for the rest of Maine's electoral paperwork.)

Putting the question of whether Chute and Kubiak will succeed in flouting Maine's election laws aside, there's at least one good reason for catching Countercoup when (and if) it's released: our heroes are "strangely vindicated in an 11th month/11th hour surprise ending." Pass the popcorn.