GOP to Maine classroom: We wuz here (and they stole a poster)

After Tea Partiers finished gutting the old Maine Republican Party platform this weekend and installing one more to their far-right liking, they ventured out to county caucuses. One of them was held in Portland's King Middle School, in the room where Paul Clifford teachers eighth-grade social studies.

Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald reports that the caucus-goers took down a poster about the history of the U.S. labor movement and taped a bumper sticker saying "Working People Vote Republican" in its place. Nemitz:

They also objected to the contents of a closed cardboard box they found near Clifford's desk. Upon opening it for a look-see, they found copies of the U.S. Constitution printed and donated to the school by (gasp) the American Civil Liberties Union.

Speaking of the children, they got into the act Tuesday after a note from "a Republican" was found in Clifford's classroom. "A Republican was here," it read. "What gives you the right to propagandize impressionable kids?"

The executive director of the Maine Republican Party says she'll try to get the poster back. As for the kids' openness to Republicans and their values? That's a lesson for another day.