First, a general description of my local geography and roads. Maine is still very rural, although I live the most populous county. We have one small city, Portland (the largest in the state), with some surrounding towns which, although close enough to be called "suburbs", are more like small towns in character and layout. The roads I ride are either (1) streets in town, with lots of driveways and parking lots entrances/exits, or (2) roads between towns, which are still largely two-lane (one each way) with moderate traffic travelling at moderate speeds and not many turnouts. Listening to you SoCal and NYC people talk, I realize how relatively nice the riding conditions here are.
Here are some of the specific varieties that I frequently encounter:
- Two-lane, moderate traffic at moderate speeds, 8-10' shoulder: This is the half of my commute nearest home. The shoulder is in pretty good shape, and usually pretty clear of debris. I therefore ride in the shoulder, but within the left 2' of it, for visibility. Approaching intersections, I move out of the shoulder and take the lane. I can usually find a gap in traffic in which to easily accomplish this. In a traffic jam, I continue to pass on the right in the shoulder, which I feel fairly safe doing because (1) it is so wide, and (2) there are hardly any turnouts.
- Same as above, except no shoulder: This is the half of my commute nearest the office. In one section, the paved shoulder extends only a foot or less, with a dirt shoulder beyond; in the other, it is terminated by a curb. In both sections, the lanes are narrow, and I ride 1-2' inside the car lane, keeping a straight line. (While I appreciate the DLLP theory, I think the volume of traffic here is a little too high for that to be practical, and/or I'm not really comfortable doing it.
) If I encounter a traffic jam here on the way home, I'll pass on the left near the double-yellow line until I reach the wide shoulder section described above, after which I'll go back to the shoulder, which gives me more room and insulation from opposing traffic, which is usually not jammed! 
- Narrow lane, no shoulder, heavy traffic: I have a bad section of this if I go to downtown Portland from work. Sometimes it's jammed, sometimes not. Hard to find a consistent style in this case. I try to take the lane at intersections, but not always possible if I've been passing on the right (carefully). To make matters worse, there are also interstate ramps. At the end of it, however, I always move out into traffic in preparation for a left turn. (Map here, I'm heading south under the highway to turn east at the 4-way.)
- Narrow 4-lane with median, bridge: Same behavior as #2, although automobiles travel closer to highway speeds, but at least there's two lanes each way, and not usually both occupied at once. The pavement is bad within 1-2' of the curb!
- Downtown Portland streets: Closer to the center due to door zone, cars are slower anyway so I'm usually not holding anyone up for long, if at all.
That's a pretty complete summary. Notice that no bike lanes were mentioned; we hardly have any. In the few places I do encounter them, I pretty much treat them as a shoulder. Ironically, none of them are as wide as the shoulder I have on that half of my commute.