Ready to rumble?

The game of politics is a lot like baseball.

Some people can actually watch an entire baseball game without ever paying attention to the stats, the subtle nuances of play and the cryptic signals given between the dugout and field.

These people are normal and are not afflicted with severe attention deficit disorder. They are likely able to sustain a relationship, hold a job and do not live in their mother’s basement.

Others sit in the stands with calculators and steel-trap memories, comparing Freddie Lynn’s RBI stats to Nomar Garciaparra’s. These people actually know how a state caucus works. They can talk at length about the decline of the Whig Party, but generally struggle with finding a date on New Year’s Eve.

If you’re part of that first group and enjoy the experience of just eating a hotdog at Fenway. Stop reading here.

However, if you’re a true political junkie, or someone who has absolutely nothing better to do with your time, hang on!

Let’s start in Biddeford, where politics is full-on tackle.

In this corner, we have newly elected Mayor Alan Casavant, hoping to also hold onto his District 137 State House seat, which includes portions of Biddeford and Kennebunkport, for another two years.

And in the opposing corner, we have State Senator Nancy Sullivan, a fellow Democrat who is facing term limits and an end to her eight-year stint in the Senate. Sullivan held the 137 House seat for three terms (1998-2004), leaving only to run for the open senate seat when Lloyd LaFountain was forced out because of (here we go again)…term limits.

Traditionally, these seats are swapped off as incumbent House and Senate members politely trade their respective seats as an end-run around Maine’s pesky term limits legislation.

A few months ago, Casavant opted to take on incumbent Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey, a fellow Democrat who was a strong supporter of a proposed racino. Twomey, coincidentally, served four terms in the neighboring House District seat and then lost a primary bid for the Senate seat to, ….wait for it, ….Nancy Sullivan.

Casavant crushed Twomey’s hopes for a third term as mayor, earning 62 percent of the vote, despite huge voter support for the racio. Analysts attribute Casavant’s landslide win to the overall brilliance and tactical genius of his campaign manager.

But this is going to be a tough Democratic primary; and I think Republican strategists must either be in a self-induced coma brought on by the complacency of holding 20 of the Senate’s 35 seats or distracted by widespread media reports surronding allegations that a 47-year-old, double-amputee Somalian man from Lewiston donated $5 to Senator Peggy Rotundo’s “Clean Election” campaign while receiving foodstamps.

But back to House District 137.

As the incumbent, Casavant’s strengths will likely include the full-weight and awesome power of the Maine Democratic Party, the same group that nominated a gubernatorial candidate who got 19 percent of voter support last year and lost both chambers of the Legislature to Republicans….

Casavant will also be buoyed by the overwhelming support his mayoral bid garnered in Wards One and Three (the main portion of District 137). Wards One and Three include Biddeford’s more affluent neighborhoods (Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks and Granite Point)

These are the same Biddeford neighborhoods, where Republicans feel brave enough to drive Subarus and Volvos without the requisite Obama 2012 bumper stickers but still register as Democrats to avoid having their homes torched.

The District also includes Kennebunkport, summer home of George HW Bush. Here, Republicans are much bolder and generally loathe the idea of driving a Subaru.

Sullivan’s support of a proposed racino will likely hurt her in District 137, but she is a very tough campaigner, ousting incumbent Republican Steve Joyce in 1998 while he was busy trimming his toenails and putting the final touches on legislation that would require all Francos in the District to register on a state web site.

Later, Sullivan fended off a primary challenge by Joanne (I’m crazier than you can possibly imagine) Twomey to earn the Democratic nomination for the State Senate. She then jousted with Donna (I’m thinking about running for president) Dion, a three-term mayor, who also touted a different casino proposal and ran as an independent.

Notice a pattern here? Sullivan can crush other  women who like casinos. She can also whip pretty boys like Steve Joyce who did not know that Biddeford had a downtown area until he got lost there.

But now Sullivan is a woman who likes casinos, so she will likely tackle Casavant by pointing out that he now holds two political offices. Expect her to also make hay about his facial hair.

Casavant, meanwhile, will be buoyed by his 438,756,823 Facebook friends and his strategic maneuver of organizing a Biddeford winter carnival during winter.

It’s going to be a heck of a ride! Time to break out the Jiffy-Pop, boys and girls.

Next Week: Biddeford firefighters fan the flames of the Maine Senate’s dysfunction.