Angus King forms bipartisan team for run for Snowe seat

Former Maine Gov. Angus King (I) has brought on two new staffers — one a Democrat, the other a Republican — in his campaign to replace retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

King spokeswoman Crystal Canney said the campaign had hired Edie Smith, a former Republican strategist, as the political and field director. Smith will run all of the campaign’s field offices. Former state Sen. Marge Kilkelly, a Democrat, will serve as policy director.

Both parties have been scouring King’s words and movements for signals of which party he will caucus with if elected, a decision that could swing the balance of power in an evenly divided Senate. The hiring moves hint that King will continue to offer few signals about where — if anywhere — his loyalties will lie if he wins the seat.

King called himself “the two parties' worst nightmare” in a WLBZ interview shortly after he announced his campaign.

"The whole notion of what I'm trying to do here is get down there and shake things up," King said. "If I said I'm going to caucus with the Democrats or caucus with the Republicans, I'd be giving the game away."