From TPM Reader BP …
As a Mainer, I have been waiting (and waiting and waiting:-) for you to weigh in on Platner, since I respect your opinion so much and this whole thing has been crazy. I have been amazed at the over the top reactions and use of new info to verify black and white priors from so many in the media and on socials. Most of that is from people outside Maine. In my little corner here:
1. Mainers REALLY respect the hard work Platner is putting in. Quiet hard work is highly valued here. It’s not just 80 town halls. He goes anywhere and everywhere to talk with any group that invites him, walks any picket line he’s invited to. It’s probably hundreds of meetings, town halls, and just showing up for a cause at this point in the campaign. He appears with other candidates to boost their visibility, and has helped the three best candidates (in my opinion) form a ranked choice coalition in the tight governor’s race.
2. The first time I saw him last September, he insisted the race isn’t about him (ironic I know!). He said it was about 40 years of the system being designed to concentrate power with a few, and it would take decades of hard work beyond individual candidates and campaigns to undo it. As part of that, he asked people in the audience to volunteer to defeat a voter restriction referendum and pass a red flag law referendum. The campaign had info on how to support that work at the event. He then led his volunteer networks in days of action door knocking, phone calling etc. before election day. Polls showed tight margins, but we ended up winning those battles in landslides. Likewise, his support has helped get funding for a rape kit bill that Mills had pocket vetoed and left to languish. Whether you believe he is sincere or not, his volunteers are notching impressive progressive victories in the state for good causes at a time when many of us were feeling totally hopeless and ineffectual.
3. Good lord, the fixation on the tattoo. I was a history minor and history TA in college. I’ve watched documentaries and war movies for 40+ years. I never knew what a Totomkopf was till I saw and heard about it during this campaign. The hysteria about this and insisting he is some closet Nazi, when he has 1300 Reddit posts out there with plenty of stupid shit in them but not one espousing any support for Nazis is insane. If the guy had any fascist tendencies, it would have shown up there. Now about that misogyny . . .
4. Honestly, it’s a cliche, but people really need to get offline and go out and touch grass. Or build some furniture. Or plant a garden. People just living their lives in Maine are deeply concerned about the price of gas, groceries, and especially, our unsustainable property tax hikes. Lack of home health care for elders, maternity wards closing down, food banks being overrun with clients . . . all this stuff weighs heavily on us every day, and Collins’s schtick is wearing quite thin. Will she win again? Who knows. But having lived through Gideon’s campaign as a 2nd District resident, Platner is an infinitely stronger candidate. Plus Collins is much frailer, older, and more Trump aligned this time. I doubt she will debate Platner, given how uncontrolled her tremors are (definitely Biden debate potential there).
More may come out that’s truly disqualifying, but so far none of this is it. Democrats really want Collins gone, and the state has trended bluer in the past few years. I wish everyone would calm down and focus on the policy issues. If they do, Platner wins. If Democrats online want to win some self-righteous battle on the internet with a bunch of strangers about a tattoo or a 12 year old toxic relationship … they might as well get paid by some Leo outfit because they are only boosting Collins. Eyes on the prize.
