Before it's available in bookstores this July, I want to give those who are most interested a chance to get their hands on the very first copies and help to fund a marketing campaign to get the word out.

As a columnist and blogger for the Portland Press Herald and Bangor Daily News, I've revealed some of Governor LePage's most controversial statements and actions: his claim that 47% of Mainers refuse to work, his secret plan for a special session, his assertion that a wind turbine is driven by a "little electric motor" in order to trick people, the exemption of his own pension from budget cutbacks and the wholesale plagiarism of the Alexander Report, to name a few.

Those all pale in comparison to some of what I've dug up and am publishing for the first time in As Maine Went. You can be the first to read all about it.

But this book isn't just about LePage's controversial comments and actions. It's an examination of the 2010 election, the grassroots movement that helped him win, the effects of corporate influence on government and what LePage's policies have meant for the people of Maine. It's a nationally-relevant case study of what happens when a moderate state is taken over by the Tea Party.