This Sign is Flexible Because She can Pull A Tab Out and Replace it With Another One!  This Woman from South Portland Attended a Recent Rally at City Hall Supporting Immigrants to This Country.

Sound Familiar? What Goes Round Comes Round!

The highly-regarded Cook Political Report recently reported that the re-election of Senator Susan Collins (R) is now a “toss-up.”  A toss-up?

That’s amazing since we are not  in primary season yet and the Democrats have four (4) people so far vying for her seat.  This blogger has had an opportunity to follow the legislative agenda and successes of House Speaker Sara Gideon; one of the four challengers to Collins.  It’s impressive.

The other announced candidates have a lot to offer, but this blogger wants to know the voting record of the Democrat to fill Collins’ timid footprint – Gideon fills that footprint in large ways.  She has a paper trail others don’t have.

The other two Republican Senators named as “toss up” incumbents are McSally from Arizona and Gardner from Colorado.

Readers of this blog may recall, the Morning Consult, an on-line tracking service, announced last month that the only person less popular than Collins is Moscow Mitch (R) Kentucky.  What a distinction!  What an embarrassment for Maine who has always prided itself on its leaders of  independence – from Margaret Chase Smith to the beloved Senator Edmund Muskie to Governor Janet T. Mills – the first woman Governor of Maine!

Collins has made no effort to persuade Portland area voters that she should be re-elected.  She snuck into the Old Port to appear at a conference on Alzemheir’s at the Portland Regency Hotel on Tuesday,August 6th in the am.   Then she snuck out again. But she was a ‘no-show’ at a forum hosted by the city of Portland on the June immigration influx at the Portland Expo.  Her office manager, Katie Simpson, showed but had no comment when asked for one on behalf of Collins by Portland city manager Jon Jennings.

Several Maine non-profits began an on-line fund raising effort several years ago.  They are intended to support the Democrat who is selected to challenge Collins next year in her re-election bid.  The fund has grown to over $4 million.  “Liberal activist groups tried to strong-arm Collins by raising a million dollars to confer on an opponent’s campaign if she voted for Kavanaugh, a tactic that some election law experts considered dangerously close to a bribe.”  But the senator was unmoved.  “In all my years of public service, I’ve never seen a debate as ugly as this one,” she had observed several weeks earlier.  “These attempts to pressure me  are not going to be a factor in my decision,” wrote two conservatives in a new book “Justice on Trial” – the Kavanaugh story.  Some, including this blogger, think that Trump’s efforts to end the Russian investigation was far uglier.  That’s part of the reason there is a national outcry to impeach Trump. Hasn’t she noticed?

The “Portland Press Herald” appears to be Collins’  biggest ally in Portland!