Democratic state Rep. Jon Hinck told Roll Call he is “exploring” a bid against Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). He said he would make a final decision in the fall.

Hinck, an attorney who has represented a swath of Portland for almost five years in the Legislature, said his strategy would not be to go negative against Snowe. He said he would focus instead on issues like debt and deficit, the country’s energy policies and “the widening wealth and income gap between the wealthiest and all the rest of us.”

Another Democrat pondering the difficult task of taking on popular incumbent Snowe is former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap.

Snowe, in her third term, faces two tea-party-affiliated candidates in the GOP primary: Scott D’Amboise and Andrew Ian Dodge.