Frank Sprague was manning Sprague's Lobster & Clam Bake in Wiscasset Aug. 3, when former governor turned congressional hopeful Angus King stopped by. The Main Street business owner offered the Independent, U.S. Senatorial candidate a lobster tail.

Sprague said he was glad he wasn't a lobsterman right now, with lobster prices so low.

“Isn't it awful,” King said. He'd been in Bristol earlier that day. Lobsters were $2 a pound there. “They can't even pay the gas,” King said.

The two men also briefly discussed the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant in Wiscasset. Sprague used to work in food service there.

Following a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection that King ordered when he was governor, Maine Yankee's owners chose to close the plant rather than invest in repairs.

King told Sprague he had nothing against nuclear power. He had to call for that inspection after learning no one had checked the plant for changes the commission had ordered, King said.

He has no plans to try to revive the use of nuclear power in Maine if he's elected, the candidate said in an interview afterward. It's too expensive right now, plus Japan's nuclear plant disaster has renewed public concerns about safety, he said.

King said natural gas provides “a real opportunity” to lower the cost of energy in the next 10 to 20 years, but that “the best source of energy is many sources.”

He sees electrically powered cars as part of the long-term answer. Once they become more widely produced, they will cost less to buy, King said.

After finishing his lobster, the candidate walked south on Main Street with his son Ben Herman and campaign staff. They stepped out of the sticky afternoon heat and into several shops.

King's Wiscasset visit was part of a daylong tour of Lincoln County.