The air war is heating up in the Maine gubernatorial race, with Paul LePage's campaign launching its first ad of the general election and Libby Mitchell's campaign airing its second.

It's likely that both campaigns will be on the airwaves straight through to election day and will continue to be joined by outside groups like the Democratic and Republican Governors' Associations.

It's much rarer for local campaigns to go on TV, but some Maine candidates make the jump, usually in targeted cable markets. Nichi Farnham, for instance, a Republican running for State Senate in District 32 (Bangor and Hermon), has released this ad:

Her opponent, incumbent Democrat Joe Perry, has used TV ads in past campaigns, including this one from 2006:

For the last few elections the District 32 race has been expected to be close, but Perry has ended up winning in the end by relatively wide margins.

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