GOP mocks Maine Democrat for ‘World of Warcraft’ persona

Updated with response from Lachowicz

Politics and fantasy have collided in a Kennebec County Senate race. The latest political mailer in Maine Senate District 25 labels Democrat Colleen Lachowicz an “Orc Assassination Rogue,” making an issue of the candidate’s participation in the online game World of Warcraft.

The Maine GOP is going after the Democratic state Senate hopeful, saying online comments she’s made using her World of Warcraft alias raise questions about her judgment and maturity. The GOP has also launched a website and a Twitter profile to highlight comments Lachowicz has made on the website Daily Kos on the World of Warcraft Guild forum.

Lachowicz is challenging Republican Sen. Tom Martin in Senate District 25, which covers the Waterville area. And the Maine GOP says voters should have access to all the information they can get about candidates.

World of Warcraft is a multi-player online game set in an alternative universe populated with creatures such as gryphons, dragons, elves, steam-powered automata, zombies and werewolves.

A sampling of Lachowicz’s comments:

  • “So I’m a level 68 orc rogue girl. That means I stab things . . . a lot.  Who would have thought that a peace-lovin’, social worker and democrat would enjoy that?!”
  • “Do not send me a campaign contribution or I will have to stab you! Seriously!”
  • “Now if you’ll excuse me, I may  have to go and hunt down Grover Norquist and drown him in my bath tub.”
  • “Or my dream from election season last year where John McCain sat at my childhood dining room table and I reamed him a new a**hole about Sarah Palin.”  

Other participants in Lachowicz’s World of Warcraft forum on Daily Kos appear to have embraced Lachowicz’s Senate run when she announced her intentions late last year.

“One of our original founding members, Colleen Lachowicz, better known in the guild as Santiaga or Ralista, is running for the Maine State Senate,” a forum participant known as Dkosmama writes on the website. “So let’s all pitch in a few bucks to help Colleen get elected so she can unleash some serious DPS on LePage.”

Lachowicz on Thursday called the Republican attack a “weird” one and said the fact she plays video games online puts her in good company with millions of other Americans, including many over the age of 50.

“What’s really weird is that the Republicans are going after my hobbies instead of talking about their record while they’ve been running Augusta for the last two years,” she said in a prepared statement. “Instead of talking about what they’re doing for Maine people, they’re making fun of me for playing video games.”

Update, 5:50 p.m.

Lachowicz’s friends in the gaming community are collecting funds on her behalf through the website ActBlue. Since Lachowicz is receiving public funds for her campaign under the Maine Clean Election Act and can’t accept contributions, a group calling itself “Friends of Santiaga” is collecting contributions for the Maine Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and MPA Campaign Vote!, a political action committee affiliated with the Maine People’s Alliance.