GP should definitely drop out. But what he did have that none of the other suggested replacements have is a kind of political and speechmaking charisma that garnered all these supporters. Assuming GP does the right thing, I wonder if there's someway we can figure out to use his talents to still win the Senate? Without poisoning the chances. Hopefully more brilliant minds than me have good ideas(just heard you on Democracy Now, and found your substack).
I enjoyed your comments on Democracy Now! this morning. I live in York, Pa, and am a UMAINE graduate, class of '67. I grew up in Kittery. My comment is that Mills would not be a good idea for the Democrats to run. Beside that, she is 79 or just turned Trumps age of 80. It's good to see you did not consider her! I just subscribed to you Substack.
Thanks so much and I agree with you about Mills, for sure. She’s been a better governor than a lot of people give credit but is not the best candidate for this now.
I think the main voters have to choose and the less the party leadership influence that the better. I'm getting the joe to Kamala swap nightmares, where voters were so pissed off that the choice was made at the top with such condescension to the actual voters. At a time where trust in dem leadership is rock bottom this will not fly.
that's the question. But also all the presumed contestants chose to not enter the primary and go up against Collins in the first place. Dem senate leadership did their best to keep the field cleared for Mills so anyone who listened to them in the first place is not really what voters are looking for. Someone to fight for them, and not who sits down when there told to.
Troy is the choice for me. He has earned it. Bellows is great too. Very smart and experienced, familiar with law and well spoken, but to beat Collins will take toughness, thick skin and the ability to weather a storm of national right wing mudslinging and ugliness. If she is made of that kind of stuff, great, but I don;t know her well enough to see that she owns that suit of armor. Troy does and he is pro union and pro worker.
Sure, the national right wing machine will try to portray him as a country bumpkin and a rube from The County. Maybe they'll make fun of his accent, but he is ready despite the ugliness they will surely spend millions of dollars on in ads and smear campaigns in the right wing media that we liberals so stupidly allowed to become dominant over the past 3 decades. I think he can beat Collins.
The more input and buy-in the MDP can get on a replacement candidate, the better. I think in down-ballot races, the process usually involves caucuses at the County Committee level that allow participation by any registered Dem in the county (or district, depending on the race). That would be a huge undertaking on short notice, but I think it might be the best option.
I hope that Platner does the right thing and withdraws from the race (despite his long history of not doing the right thing). He has had red flags waving from the beginning. I have been frustrated to see so many of my progressive friends turn themselves into moral pretzels with tortured rationalizations for his behavior. His lack of character and judgment has been apparent from the beginning.
If he withdraws and is replaced by one of the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidates — any of them would be vastly better than the disaster that has been Platner — I will be able to vote with a clean conscience.
Look, I supported the dude until yesterday, for the same reasons as Dan. And my feeds today are chock full of Maine Dems that I know personally- some who never supported him, but many who did until this. IMO he is going to look for a way to step aside with some shred of dignity. He’s always said that the race is not about him- it’s about the movement his supporters were building, and it’s about getting Collins out. That’s the message he’ll go out on.
I just think you guys have far too much faith in the people around plattner “doing the right thing”. If there was any indication that they were capable of that, he probably wouldn’t be in the race to begin with.
You may be right, but we have little say in this now. I'll leave it up to those who are paid to do this. If they do not do the right thing then we Democrats once again play the role of Charlie Brown trying to kick a football held, but then taken away by Lucy. Susan Collins makes a really good Lucy. We need to stop being Charlie Brown every election. If that happens in my lifetime, I will be surprised based on what I've seen over my adult life thus far and what history tells us. Color me disappointed.
And I don’t bet, lol. But the Maine Democratic Party and every major Dem figure in the state and country who endorsed him has retracted their endorsement. I can’t see how he can hold out even through today, given the short timeline for getting a replacement.
Excellent update, thank you, Amy. And LOL on the kayaking on a remote lake thing! It's hard to reach Mainers in summer :) Also interesting what this whole debacle says about those eager strategists tinkering with the DNA of the Democratic Party and apparently not always vetting successfully, reaching for candidates who are not "vat-grown," as they put it. How much damage did that do?? Those alternative candidates you mention--the replacements-- would have certainly come with little to no baggage....and represented the platform. Or should I say PlatNERform?
It is the Tuesday after the 4th of July weekend. I can’t think of another day (other than Monday) that the nonpolitical-casual voter would be the LEAST concerned about what is happening in the political world. So I am optimistic there is a chance.
I come from a battle-tested purple state, in which the GOP is on the brink of being cast out, if not already severely weakened. We just have to not mess this one up. Of course, we got a very good chairperson who was great at fundraising and organizing. How is Maine?
At the very least amyone who has an inkling to run should speak up NOW. Then the team can vet
them for their skeletons, and not waste anymore time. Its not like Maine is a solid red.
He has NOT withdrawn, so why write the pure flack press? Hmm, as a journalist you never never never write about something that has NOT happened. But, I guess you are just corporate media and you all make it up as you go.
I’m done with politics and the Dems. Unserious party in serious times. Just a bunch of losers and failures. Can’t pick a decent candidate even after 2024. We deserve to be out of government almost as much as the GOP
Enjoy your day out of cell phone range.
GP should definitely drop out. But what he did have that none of the other suggested replacements have is a kind of political and speechmaking charisma that garnered all these supporters. Assuming GP does the right thing, I wonder if there's someway we can figure out to use his talents to still win the Senate? Without poisoning the chances. Hopefully more brilliant minds than me have good ideas(just heard you on Democracy Now, and found your substack).
I enjoyed your comments on Democracy Now! this morning. I live in York, Pa, and am a UMAINE graduate, class of '67. I grew up in Kittery. My comment is that Mills would not be a good idea for the Democrats to run. Beside that, she is 79 or just turned Trumps age of 80. It's good to see you did not consider her! I just subscribed to you Substack.
Thanks so much and I agree with you about Mills, for sure. She’s been a better governor than a lot of people give credit but is not the best candidate for this now.
I think the main voters have to choose and the less the party leadership influence that the better. I'm getting the joe to Kamala swap nightmares, where voters were so pissed off that the choice was made at the top with such condescension to the actual voters. At a time where trust in dem leadership is rock bottom this will not fly.
Yeah, the vote for Dems because GOP is bad and also vote for our candidate because the left s bad does not math well.
At least this candidate doesn’t have to convince the whole country. So would there be town halls?
that's the question. But also all the presumed contestants chose to not enter the primary and go up against Collins in the first place. Dem senate leadership did their best to keep the field cleared for Mills so anyone who listened to them in the first place is not really what voters are looking for. Someone to fight for them, and not who sits down when there told to.
Troy is the choice for me. He has earned it. Bellows is great too. Very smart and experienced, familiar with law and well spoken, but to beat Collins will take toughness, thick skin and the ability to weather a storm of national right wing mudslinging and ugliness. If she is made of that kind of stuff, great, but I don;t know her well enough to see that she owns that suit of armor. Troy does and he is pro union and pro worker.
Sure, the national right wing machine will try to portray him as a country bumpkin and a rube from The County. Maybe they'll make fun of his accent, but he is ready despite the ugliness they will surely spend millions of dollars on in ads and smear campaigns in the right wing media that we liberals so stupidly allowed to become dominant over the past 3 decades. I think he can beat Collins.
The more input and buy-in the MDP can get on a replacement candidate, the better. I think in down-ballot races, the process usually involves caucuses at the County Committee level that allow participation by any registered Dem in the county (or district, depending on the race). That would be a huge undertaking on short notice, but I think it might be the best option.
Thanks for another thoughtful analysis, Amy.
I hope that Platner does the right thing and withdraws from the race (despite his long history of not doing the right thing). He has had red flags waving from the beginning. I have been frustrated to see so many of my progressive friends turn themselves into moral pretzels with tortured rationalizations for his behavior. His lack of character and judgment has been apparent from the beginning.
If he withdraws and is replaced by one of the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidates — any of them would be vastly better than the disaster that has been Platner — I will be able to vote with a clean conscience.
So far he has given no indication that he will. Rumor is that he has “conditions” on dropping out. Like he has any standing left anymore.
I would put money on him withdrawing in the next 24 hours.
I think you’re operating on an idea that he knows he’s cooked.
I think he and his campaign are operating on nihilism.
Look, I supported the dude until yesterday, for the same reasons as Dan. And my feeds today are chock full of Maine Dems that I know personally- some who never supported him, but many who did until this. IMO he is going to look for a way to step aside with some shred of dignity. He’s always said that the race is not about him- it’s about the movement his supporters were building, and it’s about getting Collins out. That’s the message he’ll go out on.
Same. Only yesterday did I pull my support. A bridge too far.
I just think you guys have far too much faith in the people around plattner “doing the right thing”. If there was any indication that they were capable of that, he probably wouldn’t be in the race to begin with.
You may be right, but we have little say in this now. I'll leave it up to those who are paid to do this. If they do not do the right thing then we Democrats once again play the role of Charlie Brown trying to kick a football held, but then taken away by Lucy. Susan Collins makes a really good Lucy. We need to stop being Charlie Brown every election. If that happens in my lifetime, I will be surprised based on what I've seen over my adult life thus far and what history tells us. Color me disappointed.
And I don’t bet, lol. But the Maine Democratic Party and every major Dem figure in the state and country who endorsed him has retracted their endorsement. I can’t see how he can hold out even through today, given the short timeline for getting a replacement.
Excellent update, thank you, Amy. And LOL on the kayaking on a remote lake thing! It's hard to reach Mainers in summer :) Also interesting what this whole debacle says about those eager strategists tinkering with the DNA of the Democratic Party and apparently not always vetting successfully, reaching for candidates who are not "vat-grown," as they put it. How much damage did that do?? Those alternative candidates you mention--the replacements-- would have certainly come with little to no baggage....and represented the platform. Or should I say PlatNERform?
A first step is to rid our side of candidates who are Nazi enthusiast sexual predators. We have to be better.
It is the Tuesday after the 4th of July weekend. I can’t think of another day (other than Monday) that the nonpolitical-casual voter would be the LEAST concerned about what is happening in the political world. So I am optimistic there is a chance.
I come from a battle-tested purple state, in which the GOP is on the brink of being cast out, if not already severely weakened. We just have to not mess this one up. Of course, we got a very good chairperson who was great at fundraising and organizing. How is Maine?
At the very least amyone who has an inkling to run should speak up NOW. Then the team can vet
them for their skeletons, and not waste anymore time. Its not like Maine is a solid red.
https://unitedstatesofabsurdity.substack.com/p/the-graham-platner-headlines-should?r=fgh04&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Ryan Fecteau
He has NOT withdrawn, so why write the pure flack press? Hmm, as a journalist you never never never write about something that has NOT happened. But, I guess you are just corporate media and you all make it up as you go.
We lose.
I’m done with politics and the Dems. Unserious party in serious times. Just a bunch of losers and failures. Can’t pick a decent candidate even after 2024. We deserve to be out of government almost as much as the GOP