September 4, 2008 Charlie Summers of Maine at RNC Play video

(NECN: Saint Paul, Minn.) - For Maine congressional candidate Charlie Summers, Thursday was his moment in the spotlight in Saint Paul. The Republican candidate for Congress in Maine's 1st Congressional District spoke to delegates - lavishing praise on both his wife and Presidential nominee John McCain.

Summers' wife, Ruth, campaigned for Charlie for nine months while Summers served with his Navy Reserve Unit in Iraq. Summers returned just three weeks before the Maine primary, but won and will face Democrat Chellie Pingree in the November election.

"Ruth is a perfect example of the strong, capable, compassionate Republican women leading our party," Summers said. He also said his Iraq service confirmed to him that McCain was the strongest candidate for President. "Politics this year are not a liberal versus conservative proposition, they are an American proposition. And John McCain is the American to move our country forward."