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What’s up with Maine Senate contest?

What’s up with Maine Senate contest?

I’m still having a lot of trouble figuring out the Maine Senate race, and whether there’s anything we can do to salvage the seat in a three-way race with the former Governor running as an independent apparently in the lead.

Via Pine Tree Politics:

The message from the Republican Party and Democratic Party could not have been more different Tuesday night.

On the left, Democrats gave an overwhelming victory to the most ideologically extreme left wing candidate in the field. The very moderate, inoffensive and amicable Democrat in the race, Matt Dunlap, never had a chance and was defeated easily.

Any primary, particularly one with low turnout, gives an edge to the extreme. Candidates who are able to capture the imagination of the most passionate, most intense voters (which happen to be the most likely ones to actually show up in the beginning of June to a polling place) are the ones who typically win. With Dill, this theory was proven.

But this was not the case in the Republican primary. The most conservative contenders in the primary – Poliquin, Bennett, D’Amboise and Plowman – all lost, and the victor, Charlie Summers, is the most moderate, centrist and collaborative option the GOP had.

And while Summers is undoubtedly more conservative than U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, he also has a much more realistic claim to the pragmatic independence Maine is so proud of than the anointed one, Angus King.

This certainly throws a monkey wrench into the narrative driven by the Democrats for longer than I can remember that the Republicans are lunatic extremists and the Democrats are about the sensible center.

So now that the dust has settled, what are we left with?

The conventional wisdom is, of course, that Angus King is already a United States senator and that what happened on Tuesday was little more than a footnote in his eventual march to Washington.

That could very well be true, but I think the particulars of this race now present a unique opportunity for King to be upset.

More at the link.

Help me out on this one.

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Comments

It’s about “the money”. Being a sparsely populated state, Maine isn’t the most vulnerable of states to “big money” since door-to-door campaigning can still determine who wins. But either King did a good job for Maine voters (or at least THEY think so) or he is entrenched thanks to big money and those monied connections of which Maine is drowning in (Kennebunkport, e.g.).

its a mess, nobody but D’Amboise was willing to step up until SNowe bowed out, then the cockroaches scurried into the playroom.
King is horrible.
to see what we’ve been dealing with remember the the caucuses and Paul/Romney stuff.
GOP really sucks

Also, I hope this is an example that running independent is a viable choice and a path we Tea Partiers should be pushing for.

    Darkstar58 in reply to Pasadena Phil. | June 16, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    Single quickest way to lose a race is to run 2 self-proclaimed conservatives on a ticket – it basically guarantees Democrat victory.

    If anything, Maine shows us we should avoid splitting tickets at all costs.

    The only reason Summers (merely 30% of the vote) won the primary was because the Tea Party vote was split, and the only chance Summers has now comes from the Democrat vote possibly being split between King and Dill.

      dmacleo in reply to Darkstar58. | June 16, 2012 at 3:40 pm

      think you may see many vote against king up here.
      I think in the end summers will do ok, what he does after elected…well thats another issue..

NC Mountain Girl | June 16, 2012 at 11:29 am

The independent minded citizens of Maine seem to count quite a few greedy piglets who need weaning from the public teat in their numbers according to this report.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/20/news/state/maine%E2%80%99s-poverty-rate-isn%E2%80%99t-the-highest-but-it%E2%80%99s-no-2-on-public-assistance-list/

Bitterlyclinging | June 16, 2012 at 12:18 pm

51% on those ‘down easters’ are on the dole. The ideal Obama concept for a society. The other 49% of Mainers uncomplainingly take up their yoke and burden daily to support them. Once you’ve placed your lips around the Government nipple you instinctively just don’t want to let go.
The Commies have a tantalizing campaign slogan and the’re making the most of it. “Vote for me and I’ll steal from he to give to thee.”

SmokeVanThorn | June 16, 2012 at 1:39 pm

There is this lingering misconception that Maine and NH are still rock ribbed, individualistic, conservative states – just ain’t true.

    Estragon in reply to SmokeVanThorn. | June 17, 2012 at 3:27 am

    Exactly. Immigration from Massachusetts has changed both states’ politics significantly. There was a time within my lifetime when Maine and NH were considered among the most dependably Republican and conservative states, but that time is long past now.

    King is just enough of a moderate to lose a lot of votes on the left to a more liberal candidate, so he may turn out to be vulnerable. Summers should run to the middle and conservatives should turn out for him. It’s too important a vote to let purity stand in the way of victory.

Henry Hawkins | June 16, 2012 at 3:23 pm

WAJ: “Help me out on this one.”

Due to the cold climate, I attribute the politics of Maine to recurrent seasonal hypothermia among the citizenry, where the salient symptoms include sluggish thinking, mental confusion, and amnesia, which in turn lead to incoherent and irrational behaviors.

To explain Florida, see ‘hyperthermia’.

TrooperJohnSmith | June 16, 2012 at 4:46 pm

I read the comments at the Pine Tree Blog and have to wonder if there’s something in the wat-ah up there. What happened to the archetype solid, independent New Englander?

Give that state to Canada in exchange for Alberta.