I have a very soft spot in my heart for the state of Maine, as that is where I got my college education, but I’ve never understood how Mainers cannot see through Susan Collins, and before that, her compatriot in “moderation”, Olympia Snowe.
Until we were freed from him in 2006, we denizens of Connecticut’s Second District had a “moderate” Congressman, one Rob Simmons. Here’s a definition of a Republican “moderate”: a Republican who votes with the rational side whenever his or her vote won’t make a difference. I recall that with Simmons and his ilk, the folks who called the shots used the term “catch and release” to describe the process. Simmons and his fellow moderates were allowed to vote against crazy things when the leaders were sure they had enough votes to pass them anyway. If they needed his vote, they got it. In other words, like Collins, he never cast a “moderate” vote where that vote would have made a difference.
So count me unimpressed that Collins has now come out against Trump, who is now trying to incite someone to kill Hillary, probably because he can’t see any other way to beat her. Collins is not up for re-election, and may never run again. I believe there may be one Republican incumbent who is both running for re-election and unambiguously against the Donald, and it ain’t Collins. If she were up for reelection, she’d be walking the same tightrope as Kelly Ayotte, especially if there were still time for a Trumpite to run against her as an independent. Mainers are into that sort of thing; they have time and again shown their independence by choosing governors, like LePage, who could never get elected in a two person race, and should never get elected in any race.
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