Like the rest of the state, Democrats and Republicans saw huge turnouts last weekend nearly overwhelming the undermanned Lincoln County polling sites.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise. After being hammered with polls and results from other states, it was our first chance to have a say in this most unusual presidential sweepstakes.

In most years, the local Republicans are very organized. On Saturday, they were not. County Chairman Stuart Smith of Edgecomb admitted they planned for a hundred or so participants. After all, just 70 voters showed up at the last caucus. Oops. Smith and his volunteers saw an estimated thousand or so voters from the county’s 19 towns flood the Wiscasset Middle High School gym.

Instead of breaking up into local groups to caucus and discuss the candidates, officials were forced to simplify the program, forcing voters to stand in a single line for an hour or so to sign in and get a ballot. Then, they had to get right back in another line where they stood for another hour before being allowed to vote. Many voters, including hard core Republicans, were not amused. It was more like a confused, closed primary election than a caucus.

Despite frustration with the setup, the supporters of Sen. Ted Cruz were on track. They had lots of volunteers, some sporting their religious beliefs on T-shirts, making sure their voters had Cruz stickers on their coats ready to support the Texan.

Backers of the other leading contender, Donald Trump, seemed to be on their own and relying on the enthusiastic endorsement of Gov. Paul LePage.

Arriving around noon, LePage lashed out at Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, saying the junior senators were “not ready for the big time.” He also reminded the group that members of the U.S. Senate are part of the “establishment.”

On the other hand, he urged support for Trump as a shrewd businessman, although LePage admitted he was a little brash, “like me.”

Then, LePage worked up the crowd, earning cheers as he lashed out at some of his favorite targets.

He started with the media, saying “they are so bad you can’t even trust the obituaries.” Shifting to Democrat Hillary Clinton, he said: “I don’t know which comes first, the election or an indictment.” Then he slammed Maine’s conservationists, complaining how the “pretty people from Portland” killed good jobs when they stopped an effort to mine gold in northern Maine.

After the governor’s talk, he stopped for a photo with some voters, including the family of Jefferson’s Josh Lovelace, a Baptist pastor, his wife Duska and their five children. And, he gave a special Happy Birthday greeting to their son, Landon, who turned 8 on Saturday.

Byron Johnson, 82, of Edgecomb, puzzled a few voters who tried to make sense of his eight-inch, one-word button: “Willkie.” Wendell Willkie was an Indiana lawyer who lost the 1940 election to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Despite LePage’s efforts, Cruz carried Lincoln County, winning 325 or 46 percent of the ballots cast to Trump’s 270 or 36 percent. Cruz also won the state, 45 to 35.

On Sunday, it was the turn of the Democrats who gathered  in Wiscasset, Damariscotta, Waldoboro and Dresden.

Once again, a huge crowd turned out to support Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Do you feel the Bern or are you here to Hillarie-ize,” asked one voter as he waited to sign in.

At Damariscotta’s Great Salt Bay School, Nita Kertopp, a 94-year-old Bristol resident, sat in her wheelchair next to her daughter Kristin. As she waited for the event to start, she sported a broad smile as she told how she once met President Barack Obama and was thrilled when he gave her a kiss. This time she said she voted for Clinton because “she was the best.”

Back at the Wiscasset Middle High School, when the Edgcomb contingent broke up into groups supporting Sanders and Clinton, Amy Thompson and her friend Kathleen Halm remained sitting on the bleachers. They said they couldn’t make up their minds.

“My heart is with Bernie but I feel Clinton has a better chance,” Thompson said.

In the end, Sanders carried both Lincoln County, (earning 67 percent) and the state, pulling in 64 percent of the vote.

As Wiscasset Democrats voted, an 8-year-old boy  ignored the political squabbles and walked up to a snack table. Then, he just smiled, looked around, and attacked a plate of chocolate chip cookies.