Stuart Schnee

It's been interesting watching the progressive triumphalism over Platner's primary win. As if the real race isn't against Collins and their guy isn't, well, all the things we now know he is. Platner must be polling fantastically well against Collins in campaign polling for them to take the risk. I've read lots of theories here: Collins is vulnerable among women over abortion because she voted to confirm Kavanaugh. But will that vulnerability hold if more women come forward against Platner (these kinds of scandals usually grow; they're personality patterns, not isolated failings)? I've read that her "moderate" and "independent" brand is hurt because she's been in Washington for too long; Mainers are nothing if not independent, and have voted against Trump (splitting their electoral vote 3-1 for the Dems) for the last three cycles. But does Mainers' turn away from Trump mean they will turn as far as Platner's socialism, and overlook his problems? And again, we can't assume the revelations are over. Until the primary, the revelations were helpful to Democrats, a potential save from a bad candidate. Now they're just campaign fodder for the other side. I'm an outsider reading other people's analyses here. Not an expert. But I can't figure out why Democrats seem to think this is a good thing. Platner seems like an insane risk. Wouldn't a moderate, normative Democrat with just enough self-respect not to be the kind of creep that makes your skin crawl -- i.e., the average human -- have had a commanding lead and easy victory here?