I agree strongly with this piece. Something else I would observe is that *Republicans* don't even use the language of virtue/morality anymore. I think at some point they have accepted that their party's only claim to legitimacy is force/violence and that they are no longer a force for good in the world. As a result, they have become deeply cynical and self loathing. That makes the opportunity that much greater for us and would be a disaster if we didn't take it.
Agree. Remember when GOPers embraced "family values" .... free trade....balanced budgets...law and order.....standing up to Russian aggression....siding with NATO allies....and supporting our Canadian and Mexican neighbors?
Notice the 1% offering up age as the problem. Dems need to eliminate references to age and age spots when referring to Trump. It’s tone deaf when you need the older electorate to win.
The age issue worked against Biden, and Trump is in much worse health and much more daft. Pile it on the combover king--it will help turn out young voters.
Trump would have a chance if somebody got a picture without his fake hair
Whether it's congressional races, statewide offices (governorships) and state legislatures, or local races, rural voters are an important piece of the puzzle.
I am hopeful about how close states that Trump won by 10+ points are, which Simon outlines very well. My personal goal is to find a way to chip off the 3%-5% of rural and working class voters that kept states like Ohio, Iowa, Texas, Georgia, and Florida Republican during the 2018 blue wave for governor and/or Senate (DeWine-Cordray, Reynolds-Hubbell, DeSantis-Gillum, Kemp-Abrams, and Cruz-O'Rourke).
Since 2024, I have been writing several posts on Trump 2.0 rural policies. If there is a way that info can get around to key local candidates, organizations, and parties across the party, it can a potent tool to peel off that last 3%-5% that held for the GOP in those states in 2018 (more like 1%-2% in Georgia and Florida). Another Trump rural research post is coming out on my page in the coming days. Any suggestions Hopium readers and writers?
Without being overly optimistic beyond reason, the signs do look very good for the Democrats, and that's key. The bigger the wave, the harder it is for Trump to try to successfully steal the election. If these key bellwether races are decided on Election Night without recounts or Election Day-postmarked mail-in ballots, or slow counts in California (nothing to do with "election fraud"), it's going to be a lot harder for MAGA to sow doubt compared to the closeness of 2022 or 2024.
I’ve always compared MAGA’s takeover of rural America to how drug addiction takes over a small town and this is not me trying to be funny. Very similar
I don't think you are exactly wrong there. All the small western towns in Rhode Island that backed Democrats since 1988 or 1992 swung heavily towards Trump starting in 2016.
I'd refer the book to Simon too based on what I heard. It was a duo of authors, maybe news reporters or political analysts, who went into three communities after 2016 that long supported Democrats pre-Trump: Johnston, RI, just outside of Providence, Sandy Hook, KY deep in Appalachia, and Ottumwa, IA.
The school tax dollars argument is a tricky one. Many people think this will help them be able to send their kids to a private or private religious school and it won't. There has to be a short, on point way to convey this as well in the message.
Is this a website or a substack? We are in a rural area in TN. Last year, we organized a Democratic Party. This year, we had a float in the parade saying "We the People" and "The Sequatchie County Democratic Party". The place was packed and lots of noise going on, but today someone wrote on our FB page. There was a lot of cheering when our float passed by and she was glad we came to it.
Here's some ammunition. Data shows school vouchers overwhelmingly benefit wealthy people already sending their kids to private schools in urban areas while sucking funds from public schools in rural areas.
Yep. In NC, 75% of the funds went to families making over $125,000 a year, most of whom were already sending their kids to private schools! It makes my blood boil.
Yep-see the story I told yesterday about the older guy w the MAGA hat. It's like they can't help themselves even though they are uncomfortable with the whole thing.
Trump's approval rating in the various states usually tracks election results. I keep an idea on Texas and Michigan. His approval remains under water in both states - 44 in Texas and in the high 30s in Michigan.
The most important way for our candidates to win over rural voters and win is by supporting the candidates and party committees, not other organizations. As you've heard here from all our interviews they are targeting rural voters in unprecedented ways. Supporting a left leaning group to win over red, rural communities is not in my view the smartest way forward here.
Can't say I'd dispute that. Whether it be Jamie Ager in NC-11, Tom Perriello in VA-05, Paige Cognetti in PA-08, Bob Brooks in PA-07, Sam Forstag in MT-01, Brian Poindexter in OH-07, Sarah Trone Garriott and Christina Bohannan in IA, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin, or Bobby Pulido in TX-15 and Katy Padilla Stout in TX-23, they know best.
What I was contending with as a writer and researcher was how to get rural policy oppo to those candidates, whether they are running for Congress, or for governor, or for state legislatures. How does the rural blog post being released tonight get to the candidates and the staff and the organizers in those frontline communities, where such content can shape those races? Not to say it is a silver bullet, but such work can be a baseline for something even better.
I usually would try figuring it out myself, but my outreach has its limitations. And it takes a lot of time to find the contact info for candidates and party committees to receive such materials, whether it be public posts or more confidential research and file attachments via email.
Such outreach would greatly increase the likelihood of closing in on that majority-making 3%-5% from 2018.
You commented on the race for Senate in Michigan yesterday and Graham Plattner loosing ground. The latter is not surprising. I would have to hold my nose to vote for someone who once tattooed a swastika on his chest. I don't believe that it had to do with PSTD. He's an opportunist, but that's who we have in Maine and I see Susan Collins returning while clutching those pearls of hers. Michigan? Maybe El-Sayed would not loose. (there is a large Middle Eastern population in Michigan that did not vote for Harris) He seems to be a good man with good causes and heart. I have so many friends who say things like; "Democrats are no different than Republicans." I won't go into my response to them, but it's a notion that permeates our losses. It's Democrats following carefully scripted platitudes that frustrates people. Stand for something and stop the cowering! because Americans agree with most of what Democrats stand for. So we need to explain that to people who barely watch any news. Find ways to communicate. (It's not through tv commercials. There are too many and people tune in, turn off, drop out in the battleground States) We have let Faux News decide the narrative. I remember when Obama postponed the ACA. No! You know people will embrace it. (They do) Tell them what they gain, don't run away. The Chuck Shumers of this world are useless to our growth. By the way, if he hadn't interfered wth NC's senatorial election and had made a certain sleezeball Cunningham take the nomination. (Another milquetoast candidate) over Jeff Jackson, we would have another Democrat in the Senate. Unforgivable.
Platner kept the tattoo until October 2025 which is bothersome to some. I think Platner can still turn it around but I think it does a disservice to the cause to keep blaming others for things he did, and for many, did not do a good job of clearing up. Platner has a lot of people who want him to win, but apparently, not enough ... yet. If it were me and I lived in Maine and I wanted him to win, I would focus on all the good things he has done and will do - and also focus on all the crap Collins has voted for in all her years in Congress. If you want him to win, I highly suggest to focus on his positives and her negatives. Just my two cents.
Usually it's great novels or movies or songs that bring me to tears (like the film based on a short story I watched last night, The History of Sound). But the other day, it was the Cabo Verde team—their integrity, their self-belief, their faith, that goal. Such a stark difference to the way the Paraguayans played yesterday. Perhaps, again, it goes back to your theme of today (and of recent posts), Simon: character. It's what we can see. It's what we can intuit, It's what we must value and support.
Just a note on subway train video of NYC's fireworks. That train should have been whizzing across the bridge. Instead, the subway driver slowed the train down so passengers could enjoy the fireworks. A very New York and wonderful thing to do.
A very New York thing to do. We Love New York. We were born and raised in Brooklyn. I was so happy to see the tall ships on June 25th in Baltimore Inner Harbor. Everyone was sooo happy. We watched the YouTube of the ships in NY Harbor, again, everyone was sooo happy. I'm sure Trump was jealous of Vance for getting the better gig. LOL
It’s worth mentioning that, among the states analyzed, Maine is the only one where AIPAC-aligned money and billionaire donors like Rowan, Kraft, Singer, Frank, and Griffin have activated so aggressively against the Democratic candidate.
And in Maine, they’ve done it at a level that is nearly impossible to match—truly unprecedented for Maine, To date, they have already poured more than $15 million into negative advertising attacking Platner, with reports suggesting they may spend as much as $300 million before it’s over.
A buddy of mine outside of Portland tells me you can’t turn on the TV or radio without hearing one of these attack ads.
Respectfully, to keep blaming AIPAC does a disservice to Platner. The republicans are going to do whatever they can to win and they know how to win Maine. Instead of blaming AIPAC which sorry, but it is starting to sound like coded language, I would suggest focus on all the positives of Platner and all of Collins's votes. Give people a reason to vote for Platner.
I was pointing out the obvious reason for Platner’s numbers on character. You would have to be willfully blind not to focus on AIPAC, and its affiliated PACs and donors, because they are clearly the primary force behind the staggering amount of attacks on Platner.
And this is not happening in a vacuum. The same basic dynamic is playing out in Democratic primaries and general elections across the country where DSA candidates are involved: Michigan, Illinois, New York, Maryland, and elsewhere. Politico, despite being somewhat defensive toward AIPAC, has reported on the scale of this spending and the increasingly aggressive use of affiliated and pass-through PACs: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/aipac-record-spending-new-york-maryland-00971411
So if by “coded” you mean antisemitic, no. That is a lazy and bad-faith deflection. Criticizing AIPAC’s political spending is not criticism of Jewish people. AIPAC is a powerful political organization spending massive sums to shape American elections. Its donors, PACs, strategy, and influence are fair game for scrutiny, just like the Koch network, Club for Growth, crypto PACs, fossil-fuel PACs, or any other major political money machine.
The issue here is not religion or ethnicity. It is power. It is money. It is the attempt by an overwhelmingly out-of-state donor network to bury a candidate under a level of negative spending no grassroots campaign could possibly match. Calling that out is not “coded.” It is basic political analysis.
I apologize for being willfully blind, lazy and using bad faith deflections on matters that you are an expert on and speak so eloquently on. I am sure your expertise helps immensely advance your cause.
I do take deep breaths and try to be kind. You should see what I want to comment when I don't. 😬😂😬. I am a firm believer in we can, politely, agree to disagree. Confess that sometimes the sarcasm Gremlin on my shoulder wins out though.
It's also the larger issue of facts. Presenting them, sharing them, investigating them. Understanding them.
Facts can be conveniently overlooked or massaged to fit neatly into an equation/narrative.
This is not exclusive to any one group or party.
It gets further complicated when people pass around catchphrases and repeat rhetoric that's almost lost its meaning. It becomes part of the discourse, which many people join just by repeating what they've heard.
It is a messy world with urgent (often life/death) matters we are struggling with.
JCOK, your articles do not prove your point that the info environment in Maine is somehow different than the rest of the country. I will tell you that among those of us following elections here in DC no one believes Platner's decline has come from ads. It has come from weeks of terrible news about his character. I warned folks here for weeks that they were wrong about the significance of what we were learning about him and his past. The NYT polls and the other public polls we've seen in recent weeks confirm this (btw he is not associated with DSA). And to be clear no AIPAC associated org is advertising in Maine that I am aware of.
If you can find proof - real proof - not "of course the Jews are behind it" - I welcome it. You have not provided it. Documenting hard dollar donations from prominent Rs into Collins' race doesn't cut it unless you can someone prove all those donors are not donating to all the other Republican candidates. Everyone of our candidates are going to face an extraordinary barage of negative advertising. Platner has given them more ammunition than just about any other candidate in the country - that is the issue.
What you are arguing is that the ads make the difference. But right aligned spending didn't defeat Bob Brooks, Johnny Garcia, Cait Conley, or Rebecca Bennett. It is not the mere presence of ads that moves voters, for it that was the case these candidates would not have lost, and we would have no chance of winning the election. Platner's decline is of his own making, and as I've argued elsewhere I think he can still win but he will need to embrace the Democratic brand, which is polling 9 points above him, not run from it.
In our suburban neighborhood outside of Cincinnati, Ohio I watched the 4th of July parade with all of my neighbors. First came the homemade 250th Birthday float. Then about in the middle came the Democrat's float with about 50+ people marching and cheering. Finally, towards the end came the GOP float with exactly 6 people marching with it. They looked embarrassed.
Simon, thank you for the discussion of character and virtue. There's an old saying that character is destiny and, at least in the long term, I think that's true.
I'm writing some more postcards to Ohio voters today. I think we can flip Ohio!
I would very much like to see Congress pass an ethics law that covers all three branches - deal with the corruption and the insider trading wherever it is found. There seems to be a lot of both siderism among R voters that they "all do it," and they cite Nancy Pelosi, their favorite punching bag, as an example. Never mind that the Trump family corruption is an order of magnitude worse than anyone else's in history.
And never mind that Nancy Pelosi allows anyone who wants to copy her stock trades, so that any insider trading she’s doing is basically equal opportunity! Anyone who wants to cite her as an example of corruption needs to explain a little more, at the very least
so odd health care ranks so low. because millions upon millions got hit this year by repubs on health care with higher rates and/or loss of insurance. so its personal. and life threatening. and yet ranks low among concerns of voters. who are they polling? middle class employed voters who get health insurance at work?? strange.
I wondered the same thing. I think in the last poll it’s a bit misleading because there was one choice labeled “health care” and a separate choice for “social security and Medicare”… which to my mind means it was a badly-written poll, and suggests that the true popularity of healthcare as a concern among the people who answered that poll was much higher than the 16% shown. But with the polls Simon referred to earlier in the post, the low numbers for healthcare are indeed puzzling
Okay...you tried to tell us and I am guilty of not listening. So what do we do now about Graham Platner? At this late stage, what kind of argument can we present to the people of Maine that they should vote for him, other than to get back control of the Senate, which in itself is huge. How do we convince the people who don't approve of him, that in this instance, the ends justfy the means?
I am absolutely flabbergasted and disgusted there seems to no bottom for so many Americans. I’d never have the brainpower or temperament to do what you do Simon.
In his July 3 speech at Mt Rushmore, Trump said that Democrats are Communists. He also called for Congress to eliminate the filibuster so the SAVE Act will get passed. Trump promised if that happens, “we” (the Republican Party) won’t lose an election for 100 years. How do we fight back against the “Communist” label? How do we get people to understand that Trump wants elections to be meaningless for 100 years under ironclad one-party rule?
Simon, According to all that Polling, it looks like We are getting Stronger and Stronger!
For two days I watched (12 hours) of Ken Burns "The American Revolution" for the third time, since it appeared on TV! It is a beautiful, inspiring, Sanguine, story of our perseverance to fight for our Freedom with a "Resounding Victory" America is truly a Miracle! I look forward to Stuart Stevens tomorrow. Happy Sunday All.
Millie, I became obsessed with that documentary last month. I realized that in order to understand it properly I needed to take detailed notes as I watched and I ended up with 46 pages of handwritten notes! It took me much longer to watch, but I feel that my understanding of the birth of our nation is much stronger and richer for having taken the time to do that. I highly recommend watching it!
I had to stop and rewatch parts of it both tijmes I watched it. Too much to digest. I also listened to some of the talks he's been doing, which are instructive.
Stuart Stevens is one of the former Republicans I respect. I think he is no longer a Republican, but I am not sure. Either way, I respect his honesty about the Republican Party. I may not always agree with him, but I sure do listen to what he has to say.
I agree strongly with this piece. Something else I would observe is that *Republicans* don't even use the language of virtue/morality anymore. I think at some point they have accepted that their party's only claim to legitimacy is force/violence and that they are no longer a force for good in the world. As a result, they have become deeply cynical and self loathing. That makes the opportunity that much greater for us and would be a disaster if we didn't take it.
Agree. Remember when GOPers embraced "family values" .... free trade....balanced budgets...law and order.....standing up to Russian aggression....siding with NATO allies....and supporting our Canadian and Mexican neighbors?
well said.
Notice the 1% offering up age as the problem. Dems need to eliminate references to age and age spots when referring to Trump. It’s tone deaf when you need the older electorate to win.
The age issue worked against Biden, and Trump is in much worse health and much more daft. Pile it on the combover king--it will help turn out young voters.
Trump would have a chance if somebody got a picture without his fake hair
Whether it's congressional races, statewide offices (governorships) and state legislatures, or local races, rural voters are an important piece of the puzzle.
I am hopeful about how close states that Trump won by 10+ points are, which Simon outlines very well. My personal goal is to find a way to chip off the 3%-5% of rural and working class voters that kept states like Ohio, Iowa, Texas, Georgia, and Florida Republican during the 2018 blue wave for governor and/or Senate (DeWine-Cordray, Reynolds-Hubbell, DeSantis-Gillum, Kemp-Abrams, and Cruz-O'Rourke).
Since 2024, I have been writing several posts on Trump 2.0 rural policies. If there is a way that info can get around to key local candidates, organizations, and parties across the party, it can a potent tool to peel off that last 3%-5% that held for the GOP in those states in 2018 (more like 1%-2% in Georgia and Florida). Another Trump rural research post is coming out on my page in the coming days. Any suggestions Hopium readers and writers?
Without being overly optimistic beyond reason, the signs do look very good for the Democrats, and that's key. The bigger the wave, the harder it is for Trump to try to successfully steal the election. If these key bellwether races are decided on Election Night without recounts or Election Day-postmarked mail-in ballots, or slow counts in California (nothing to do with "election fraud"), it's going to be a lot harder for MAGA to sow doubt compared to the closeness of 2022 or 2024.
I’ve always compared MAGA’s takeover of rural America to how drug addiction takes over a small town and this is not me trying to be funny. Very similar
I don't think you are exactly wrong there. All the small western towns in Rhode Island that backed Democrats since 1988 or 1992 swung heavily towards Trump starting in 2016.
I'd refer the book to Simon too based on what I heard. It was a duo of authors, maybe news reporters or political analysts, who went into three communities after 2016 that long supported Democrats pre-Trump: Johnston, RI, just outside of Providence, Sandy Hook, KY deep in Appalachia, and Ottumwa, IA.
Texas Dems need to connect the dots for rural Texans - with language easy to understand. Examples:
"If you want your rural hospital to close - keep voting Republican."
"If you want your school tax dollars diverted to private schools in the suburbs, keep voting Republican."
Say it loud and often. It needs to echo in the heads of rural Texans as they cast their vote.
The school tax dollars argument is a tricky one. Many people think this will help them be able to send their kids to a private or private religious school and it won't. There has to be a short, on point way to convey this as well in the message.
Check out More Perfect Union. They did a very effective video on this issue days ago.
Is this a website or a substack? We are in a rural area in TN. Last year, we organized a Democratic Party. This year, we had a float in the parade saying "We the People" and "The Sequatchie County Democratic Party". The place was packed and lots of noise going on, but today someone wrote on our FB page. There was a lot of cheering when our float passed by and she was glad we came to it.
They have a YouTube page.
Thank you. I will have to look for it. We do need good, concise messaging about this very matter.
Here's some ammunition. Data shows school vouchers overwhelmingly benefit wealthy people already sending their kids to private schools in urban areas while sucking funds from public schools in rural areas.
https://www.icontact-archive.com/archive?c=1405546&f=4119&s=4224&m=1132394&t=4af5348088e3a68e490208101fad3dac06821ff0df09dd2bfda8ca1a214c3448
https://carolinaforward.org/news/collapsing-case-vouchers/
Thank you!
Yep.. Leon - I was about to make this point. Thank you!!
Yep. In NC, 75% of the funds went to families making over $125,000 a year, most of whom were already sending their kids to private schools! It makes my blood boil.
This article explains one of my objections to vouchers (from tax dollars) going to private schools: https://www.propublica.org/article/segregation-academies-school-voucher-money-north-carolina
I also object to religious schools getting public money. Especially if they are 'Christian' the way Mike Johnson is 'Christian'.
Thank you! I will copy the link and read later. I have copied these and emailed them to myself to keep for future reference.
Yep-see the story I told yesterday about the older guy w the MAGA hat. It's like they can't help themselves even though they are uncomfortable with the whole thing.
I see it as people caught in an abusive relationship:
They cannot see a way out and thus remain attached to their abuser
The United States is abused by this man and the GOP every day
Trump's approval rating in the various states usually tracks election results. I keep an idea on Texas and Michigan. His approval remains under water in both states - 44 in Texas and in the high 30s in Michigan.
The most important way for our candidates to win over rural voters and win is by supporting the candidates and party committees, not other organizations. As you've heard here from all our interviews they are targeting rural voters in unprecedented ways. Supporting a left leaning group to win over red, rural communities is not in my view the smartest way forward here.
Can't say I'd dispute that. Whether it be Jamie Ager in NC-11, Tom Perriello in VA-05, Paige Cognetti in PA-08, Bob Brooks in PA-07, Sam Forstag in MT-01, Brian Poindexter in OH-07, Sarah Trone Garriott and Christina Bohannan in IA, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin, or Bobby Pulido in TX-15 and Katy Padilla Stout in TX-23, they know best.
What I was contending with as a writer and researcher was how to get rural policy oppo to those candidates, whether they are running for Congress, or for governor, or for state legislatures. How does the rural blog post being released tonight get to the candidates and the staff and the organizers in those frontline communities, where such content can shape those races? Not to say it is a silver bullet, but such work can be a baseline for something even better.
I usually would try figuring it out myself, but my outreach has its limitations. And it takes a lot of time to find the contact info for candidates and party committees to receive such materials, whether it be public posts or more confidential research and file attachments via email.
Such outreach would greatly increase the likelihood of closing in on that majority-making 3%-5% from 2018.
lol! Collins +33 on character. The home wrecker sure has pulled the wool over peoples eyes.
You commented on the race for Senate in Michigan yesterday and Graham Plattner loosing ground. The latter is not surprising. I would have to hold my nose to vote for someone who once tattooed a swastika on his chest. I don't believe that it had to do with PSTD. He's an opportunist, but that's who we have in Maine and I see Susan Collins returning while clutching those pearls of hers. Michigan? Maybe El-Sayed would not loose. (there is a large Middle Eastern population in Michigan that did not vote for Harris) He seems to be a good man with good causes and heart. I have so many friends who say things like; "Democrats are no different than Republicans." I won't go into my response to them, but it's a notion that permeates our losses. It's Democrats following carefully scripted platitudes that frustrates people. Stand for something and stop the cowering! because Americans agree with most of what Democrats stand for. So we need to explain that to people who barely watch any news. Find ways to communicate. (It's not through tv commercials. There are too many and people tune in, turn off, drop out in the battleground States) We have let Faux News decide the narrative. I remember when Obama postponed the ACA. No! You know people will embrace it. (They do) Tell them what they gain, don't run away. The Chuck Shumers of this world are useless to our growth. By the way, if he hadn't interfered wth NC's senatorial election and had made a certain sleezeball Cunningham take the nomination. (Another milquetoast candidate) over Jeff Jackson, we would have another Democrat in the Senate. Unforgivable.
Platner did not have a Swastika on his chest. AIPAC is pouring immense amount of money in Maine. Hopefully Mainers will see through it all.
Platner kept the tattoo until October 2025 which is bothersome to some. I think Platner can still turn it around but I think it does a disservice to the cause to keep blaming others for things he did, and for many, did not do a good job of clearing up. Platner has a lot of people who want him to win, but apparently, not enough ... yet. If it were me and I lived in Maine and I wanted him to win, I would focus on all the good things he has done and will do - and also focus on all the crap Collins has voted for in all her years in Congress. If you want him to win, I highly suggest to focus on his positives and her negatives. Just my two cents.
I live in San Francisco. I hop he wins because a Seanator from any state has an enormous power over all of us everywhere in the country.
Usually it's great novels or movies or songs that bring me to tears (like the film based on a short story I watched last night, The History of Sound). But the other day, it was the Cabo Verde team—their integrity, their self-belief, their faith, that goal. Such a stark difference to the way the Paraguayans played yesterday. Perhaps, again, it goes back to your theme of today (and of recent posts), Simon: character. It's what we can see. It's what we can intuit, It's what we must value and support.
Just a note on subway train video of NYC's fireworks. That train should have been whizzing across the bridge. Instead, the subway driver slowed the train down so passengers could enjoy the fireworks. A very New York and wonderful thing to do.
A very New York thing to do. We Love New York. We were born and raised in Brooklyn. I was so happy to see the tall ships on June 25th in Baltimore Inner Harbor. Everyone was sooo happy. We watched the YouTube of the ships in NY Harbor, again, everyone was sooo happy. I'm sure Trump was jealous of Vance for getting the better gig. LOL
It always goes slow over those bridges, at least when I've been on it.
It’s worth mentioning that, among the states analyzed, Maine is the only one where AIPAC-aligned money and billionaire donors like Rowan, Kraft, Singer, Frank, and Griffin have activated so aggressively against the Democratic candidate.
And in Maine, they’ve done it at a level that is nearly impossible to match—truly unprecedented for Maine, To date, they have already poured more than $15 million into negative advertising attacking Platner, with reports suggesting they may spend as much as $300 million before it’s over.
A buddy of mine outside of Portland tells me you can’t turn on the TV or radio without hearing one of these attack ads.
These numbers reflect that reality.
Respectfully, to keep blaming AIPAC does a disservice to Platner. The republicans are going to do whatever they can to win and they know how to win Maine. Instead of blaming AIPAC which sorry, but it is starting to sound like coded language, I would suggest focus on all the positives of Platner and all of Collins's votes. Give people a reason to vote for Platner.
I was pointing out the obvious reason for Platner’s numbers on character. You would have to be willfully blind not to focus on AIPAC, and its affiliated PACs and donors, because they are clearly the primary force behind the staggering amount of attacks on Platner.
The Maine Monitor has a strong investigative piece on the unprecedented flood of out-of-state billionaire money pouring into the Maine Senate race: https://themainemonitor.org/billionaires-donating-reelect-collins/
And this is not happening in a vacuum. The same basic dynamic is playing out in Democratic primaries and general elections across the country where DSA candidates are involved: Michigan, Illinois, New York, Maryland, and elsewhere. Politico, despite being somewhat defensive toward AIPAC, has reported on the scale of this spending and the increasingly aggressive use of affiliated and pass-through PACs: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/aipac-record-spending-new-york-maryland-00971411
So if by “coded” you mean antisemitic, no. That is a lazy and bad-faith deflection. Criticizing AIPAC’s political spending is not criticism of Jewish people. AIPAC is a powerful political organization spending massive sums to shape American elections. Its donors, PACs, strategy, and influence are fair game for scrutiny, just like the Koch network, Club for Growth, crypto PACs, fossil-fuel PACs, or any other major political money machine.
The issue here is not religion or ethnicity. It is power. It is money. It is the attempt by an overwhelmingly out-of-state donor network to bury a candidate under a level of negative spending no grassroots campaign could possibly match. Calling that out is not “coded.” It is basic political analysis.
I apologize for being willfully blind, lazy and using bad faith deflections on matters that you are an expert on and speak so eloquently on. I am sure your expertise helps immensely advance your cause.
Deep breaths, folks, and try to be kind to each other. We are all on the same side.
I do take deep breaths and try to be kind. You should see what I want to comment when I don't. 😬😂😬. I am a firm believer in we can, politely, agree to disagree. Confess that sometimes the sarcasm Gremlin on my shoulder wins out though.
Right there with ya! ;)
😘
It's also the larger issue of facts. Presenting them, sharing them, investigating them. Understanding them.
Facts can be conveniently overlooked or massaged to fit neatly into an equation/narrative.
This is not exclusive to any one group or party.
It gets further complicated when people pass around catchphrases and repeat rhetoric that's almost lost its meaning. It becomes part of the discourse, which many people join just by repeating what they've heard.
It is a messy world with urgent (often life/death) matters we are struggling with.
The devil's in the details- you betcha ya!
Agree.
JCOK, your articles do not prove your point that the info environment in Maine is somehow different than the rest of the country. I will tell you that among those of us following elections here in DC no one believes Platner's decline has come from ads. It has come from weeks of terrible news about his character. I warned folks here for weeks that they were wrong about the significance of what we were learning about him and his past. The NYT polls and the other public polls we've seen in recent weeks confirm this (btw he is not associated with DSA). And to be clear no AIPAC associated org is advertising in Maine that I am aware of.
If you can find proof - real proof - not "of course the Jews are behind it" - I welcome it. You have not provided it. Documenting hard dollar donations from prominent Rs into Collins' race doesn't cut it unless you can someone prove all those donors are not donating to all the other Republican candidates. Everyone of our candidates are going to face an extraordinary barage of negative advertising. Platner has given them more ammunition than just about any other candidate in the country - that is the issue.
What you are arguing is that the ads make the difference. But right aligned spending didn't defeat Bob Brooks, Johnny Garcia, Cait Conley, or Rebecca Bennett. It is not the mere presence of ads that moves voters, for it that was the case these candidates would not have lost, and we would have no chance of winning the election. Platner's decline is of his own making, and as I've argued elsewhere I think he can still win but he will need to embrace the Democratic brand, which is polling 9 points above him, not run from it.
Do you think he will embrace the Democratic brand Simon?
Or will he make the rookie mistake of thinking he knows best, which I imagine only works out on the rarest of occasions.
thanks
In our suburban neighborhood outside of Cincinnati, Ohio I watched the 4th of July parade with all of my neighbors. First came the homemade 250th Birthday float. Then about in the middle came the Democrat's float with about 50+ people marching and cheering. Finally, towards the end came the GOP float with exactly 6 people marching with it. They looked embarrassed.
Go USA!!!! Happy July 4th!!
What a delightful image! Thanks for sharing.
Simon, thank you for the discussion of character and virtue. There's an old saying that character is destiny and, at least in the long term, I think that's true.
I'm writing some more postcards to Ohio voters today. I think we can flip Ohio!
I would very much like to see Congress pass an ethics law that covers all three branches - deal with the corruption and the insider trading wherever it is found. There seems to be a lot of both siderism among R voters that they "all do it," and they cite Nancy Pelosi, their favorite punching bag, as an example. Never mind that the Trump family corruption is an order of magnitude worse than anyone else's in history.
And never mind that Nancy Pelosi allows anyone who wants to copy her stock trades, so that any insider trading she’s doing is basically equal opportunity! Anyone who wants to cite her as an example of corruption needs to explain a little more, at the very least
so odd health care ranks so low. because millions upon millions got hit this year by repubs on health care with higher rates and/or loss of insurance. so its personal. and life threatening. and yet ranks low among concerns of voters. who are they polling? middle class employed voters who get health insurance at work?? strange.
I wonder the same thing. People are getting absolutely slammed.
I wondered the same thing. I think in the last poll it’s a bit misleading because there was one choice labeled “health care” and a separate choice for “social security and Medicare”… which to my mind means it was a badly-written poll, and suggests that the true popularity of healthcare as a concern among the people who answered that poll was much higher than the 16% shown. But with the polls Simon referred to earlier in the post, the low numbers for healthcare are indeed puzzling
Okay...you tried to tell us and I am guilty of not listening. So what do we do now about Graham Platner? At this late stage, what kind of argument can we present to the people of Maine that they should vote for him, other than to get back control of the Senate, which in itself is huge. How do we convince the people who don't approve of him, that in this instance, the ends justfy the means?
Oops, my original post ended up as a reply. Dang phone. Sorry. Reposted as original in the chat.
Two words: Supreme Court
I am absolutely flabbergasted and disgusted there seems to no bottom for so many Americans. I’d never have the brainpower or temperament to do what you do Simon.
In his July 3 speech at Mt Rushmore, Trump said that Democrats are Communists. He also called for Congress to eliminate the filibuster so the SAVE Act will get passed. Trump promised if that happens, “we” (the Republican Party) won’t lose an election for 100 years. How do we fight back against the “Communist” label? How do we get people to understand that Trump wants elections to be meaningless for 100 years under ironclad one-party rule?
I read a comment the other day which pointed out that djt’s BFF, Vlad Putin, is a communist.
Too bad that ol’ Cheeto is too amoral to notice his hypocrisy.
well that and he's a total ignoramus. ;)
Also, the Rump went to China and licked the shoes of Xi Jinping - The Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
Simon, According to all that Polling, it looks like We are getting Stronger and Stronger!
For two days I watched (12 hours) of Ken Burns "The American Revolution" for the third time, since it appeared on TV! It is a beautiful, inspiring, Sanguine, story of our perseverance to fight for our Freedom with a "Resounding Victory" America is truly a Miracle! I look forward to Stuart Stevens tomorrow. Happy Sunday All.
Millie, I became obsessed with that documentary last month. I realized that in order to understand it properly I needed to take detailed notes as I watched and I ended up with 46 pages of handwritten notes! It took me much longer to watch, but I feel that my understanding of the birth of our nation is much stronger and richer for having taken the time to do that. I highly recommend watching it!
I had to stop and rewatch parts of it both tijmes I watched it. Too much to digest. I also listened to some of the talks he's been doing, which are instructive.
Stuart Stevens is one of the former Republicans I respect. I think he is no longer a Republican, but I am not sure. Either way, I respect his honesty about the Republican Party. I may not always agree with him, but I sure do listen to what he has to say.