In a bow to the inevitable, a long-overdue party switch opens up many new possibilities.

Last week was a big week for me. I went by the Cumberland Town Office and changed my registration from Republican to Democrat.

It was easy. I filled out a small card indicating my new party preference and was admonished by the town clerk that I had to remain a Democrat for at least 90 days.

I am a lifelong Republican, so this admonition was something I took seriously. However, I handed in the card anyway.

Mostly, this act of switching party allegiance was reflective of the way I have been voting for some time. It is hard to remember the last Republican president or presidential candidate I voted for. It might have been Richard Nixon in 1968.

The last Republican 1st District candidate I voted for was probably David Emery in his first term.

I have been more supportive of Republican senators and senatorial candidates, having voted for Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins in all their elections. However, even this will change in 2008, as I am supporting Tom Allen in his bid to unseat Susan.

Tom and I have been friends since graduate school in England. He embodies the best in the Maine tradition of able, committed moderates who have represented us in Washington, people like Margaret Chase Smith, Bill Cohen, Ed Muskie and George Mitchell.

So I finally bowed to the inevitable, as my daughters would say, and switched parties. One immediate opportunity this switch gives me is to be able to vote in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District on June 10.

This is an important race. Given the difficult state of the economy and the ongoing conflict in Iraq, a Democratic candidate will have a strong edge in the fall election.

And the Dems have a deep and able group of six candidates vying for the nomination. The Press Herald has been printing in-depth profiles of the candidates – one a day starting a week ago Monday.

These profiles are worth reading. They are well-researched and balanced. Amidst all of the candidate rhetoric, these profiles will give you a sense of perspective on the candidates.

I am supporting Adam Cote in this race. Adam is an accomplished corporate lawyer with significant national and international business experience. In addition, he has served in both Bosnia and Iraq, giving him a unique perspective on the difficulties of nation building. He is also the only moderate in the field, and, as you can surmise from my voting patterns, I am a moderate.

The best-known candidate is Chellie Pingree, longtime state legislator and former state Senate majority leader. She waged an unsuccessful race in 2002 to unseat Susan Collins.

Ethan Strimling, a current state senator from Portland, has tried to position himself as the Hillary Clinton of this contest, the champion of the working person.

Mark Lawrence and Mike Brennan are also veteran state legislators. Both have credible records from their Augusta experience, although I would not consider either a moderate.

As I noted in my column last week, one good source for determining who holds a moderate position on the economy and business is the rating of the Maine Economic Research Institute (www.me-ri.org). My definition of a moderate would typically score between 40 and 60 on the 0-100 MERI scale.

Low scores indicate little support for those issues tabbed as significant by business. I noted that a problem in the current Legislature is that most Democrats and particularly Democratic leadership had scores below 20.

To give you an example of how these candidates have scored: Chellie Pingree was a 14.5 in her last term in the Legislature. Mark Lawrence was a 24. For the 122nd Legislature (2004-2006), the latest in MERI data, Mike Brennan was rated 12.5, and Ethan Strimling 14.5, up from 6.0 in the 121st.

Adam Cote was not rated, as he was not in the state Legislature. However, it is clear from his experience and position on current issues that he would likely vote a much more moderate pattern on economic issues than any of these other Democratic candidates.

So to all of my newly-fellow Democrats, I look forward to seeing you at the polls on June 10. However you decide to vote, come informed.