See Post 18

"...we are suspending campaign operations"

Is saying suspending instead of ending because of some legal stuff having to do with campaign funds or something?

It's been going on for a couple decades.

Here's one from 2004
https://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/04/elec04.prez.edwards.suspension/index.html

Bernie encouraged Platner to run.
Bernie encouraged John Fetterman to run.

And while I liked so much of what Platner said-- I remembered how I liked Fetterman. Heard him 4 times, met him each time, talked with him...and I never saw coming what we see now. If only he could be recalled.

I remember thinking after listening to Platner speak--gee, he sure sounds like Fetterman did. I sure hope he isn't in disguise.

We absolutely must win both House and Senate. No chances.

It's up to Maine now. I sure hope Heather Cox Richardson steps forward. I really think they need to have a woman run agains Susan.

Fetterman is a unique case. There are peole close to him who say he changed after his stroke. Let's not put the Fetterman comparison on every Progressive who comes forward sounding like working class.

And let's not put this on Bernie. He encourages a lot of people to run, he has brought a lot of talent into the party, including AOC. They do not as a rule change ideologies midstream or turn out to be scandal-ridden. He is not in the end the one responsible for vetting candidates, there are professionals who are supposed to do that. Bernie does enough. You may or may not like it that Bernie is committed to bringing Progressives into the party, but that is a separate issue from the problems that Fetterman and Platner pose.

Yes, they need to be vetted them and that will be very hard in the time available. I hope the people with the power and responsibility to decide will listen to what Mainers were telling us they wanted instead of just picking the status quo that hasn't prevailed for 30 years.

Candidate people voted for did. Replacement lost. We've got Shithead again.

Everyone. . .going out on a limb. Unless history is terrible guide to go by, Susan Collins will be re-elected and we will lose another winnable seat with an appointed candidate the voters did not choose.

More successful Republican rat fucking. I am not denying these things happened. . .I'm questioning the timing of it.

Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers after the DNC "scandal" comes to mind. And we fall for their bullshit all the time.

Do I support Platner. . .I support any Democrat facing a Republican.

But he’s a bigger person than every single person in Maine’s Democratic Party who will now choose who runs, overturning the will of the people. Has anyone actually vetted this woman’s allegations? Very, very doubtful. We just judge, make wild accusations, then at the last minute demonstrate we’re addicts of self inflicted doom and horror.

is that how rape cases should be handled going forward?

A mere accusation is not proof of action.

Which he has admitted to that gives the allegations weight. They are in line with his past "mistakes".

after a primary.

with a history of homophobia, racism, misogyny, harassment and sexual assault it is time to question if there is a difference between the parties.

Why should we trust a person with such a background will live up to their words?

given electability at this point, regardless of who we believe.

Then you run a bigger one once you know the accusation will torpedo someone.

Everyone is quick to jump on him because of "numerous accusations." Again, this stinks and we fall for it all the time.

they were put into the Nazi gas chambers. There is no both sides to this debate.

How convenient that he's suddenly guilty of taking part in an illegal war based on a lie just a year before the election. I highly doubt his working-class persona given that he was making hand-over-fist in Iraq doing god knows what.

It goes back to Fredrick the Great of Prussia

Use of the Totenkopf in Germany as a military emblem began under Frederick the Great, who formed a regiment of Hussar cavalry in the Prussian army commanded by Colonel von Ruesch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf

The swastika is an ancient symbol in asian and Native American cultures. It was co-opted by nazis and can never be seen the same way again.

A rapist is a rapist and will never not be a rapist.

Pick a qualified female.

Lets be careful. There are two great men who are Progressive enough to perhaps respond to what Mainers were voting for. (Jackson and Costello). Men shouldn't all be tarred and feathered over this.

The party picked Janet Mills. They need to do better. We need to get person who can win.

After listening to this guy whine for 15 minutes my main question is: "How did this joker ever pass muster with the Maine Democratic Party?" Did they simply swoon over the Marine oyster farmer in a plaid flannel shirt? Because they certainly didn't look into his background.

I think in a wave midterm year, this seat is still very much in play, and the odds are probably still in our favor.

Until we win, Graham, who I say?

Graham Platner will probably exist as a 2026 trivia question where 90% of the people don't remember who he is.

So it was close.

More on the likely nomination process and people in the running here.

And there is every reason to expect that the nominee that comes out of the process will be a much stronger candidate against Collins.

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/some-thoughts-on-whats-next-for-maine

As I wrote yesterday I still believe a solid, strong generic Democrat can beat Susan Collins this November. Harris won Maine by 7 points. Our candidate for Governor Hannah Pingree leads by 15. The generic ballot is 53%-42% Dem right now. This is the most favorable environment of any battleground state right now. But it is going to be essential, vital for whomever we pick to be able to put distance between them and Platner. For not only is he a despicable figure now, his political project was never as successful as his reckless gaslighters led us to believe; and this matters for the broader conversation about the future of our party...

We are going to spend some time with data now.

Over the last several months prior to the June primary Platner led Collins by an average of 7 points over Susan Collins. This is exactly the margin Harris won Maine by in 2024, 4 points below the +11 generic ballot the NYT published last week, and at least 8 points below our gubernatorial candidate, Hannah Pingree. I will once again share that recent chart of how our battleground Senate candidates are doing relative to Harris. This uses the NYT results for Platner from last week:



The Fox News poll last week had Platner trailing Susan Collins by 3. What this all means is that Platner has had the worst polling of any of our battleground candidates in the country this summer in what is by far and away the most Democratic state we are competing in this year.
...
The +15 is where Hannah Pingree, a well-established Democrat in Maine, is right now. Last week Platner was +2 in the NYT poll, and -3 in the Fox News poll.

G. Elliott Morris published an analysis last night that makes some of these same points...

Let’s now look at a bit more data from this new analysis from Morris. The number on the right column is the number of percentage points our candidates are over/underperforming against expectations right now in their nowcast model:

Talarico 5.4
Cooper 4.5
Brown 4.2
Turek 3.7
Michigan -5.9 (both El-Sayed and Haley Stevens)
Platner - 9.9

While Ossoff and Peltola are not included in Morris’ analysis they would fall into the overperformance camp, not the underperformance camp based on publicly available polling data of late.
....

... but she's got the chops, the experience, and cojones – figuratively speaking, of course – to kick Trump's cojones through the top of his head. And I'll bet she's got the votes.

The new nominee needs help to start running a campaign in the next 2 weeks. The website is mainedems.org for anyone who wants to help.

She's good and they are working at warp speed to select a new candidate.

Genuinely, other than being an "outsider" and spouting populist rhetoric which just takes a pollster, what is his movement that needs to continue? I thought he could be a good candidate, I don't like how he turned out, I'm also not from Maine so my vote don't count, but I never saw him or his campign as any sort of "movement". Just the ever popular "outsider" everyman who was gonna finally put a cork in Collins. But other than that, what did he actually stand for.

So I hope the Maine Democratic Party can get it together in record time to field a viable candidate, otherwise it will be a rubber stamp for six more years of ineffective representation by Susan Collins.