Platner’s deeply flawed candidacy tests Democrats’ moral compass

The moral compromise Maine Democratic voters baked into Graham Platner’s nomination for U.S. Senate shocks the sensibilities. 

Maine has traditionally been looked upon as a bellwether state. “As Maine goes, so goes the nation” was once an axiom of U.S. politics. But other than that shibboleth, Maine is an inconsequential state in America’s political constellation, with its relatively small population, two seats in the House of Representatives, four electoral votes and a backseat location in the far northeastern U.S.

But this year, with Republicans holding a slender 53-47 Senate majority, as Maine goes so may the Senate. 

Often said to be a liberal Republican, five term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), age 73, is facing the fight of her life. Polls say Mainers are looking for a younger more energetic candidate than the pro-choice Collins, who wears RINO (Republican in name only) drag but always seems to answer to MAGA’s call. Collins voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, but later said she had been “misled” about his position on affirming Roe v. Wade. 

The apparent frontrunning Democratic challenger was Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D). Mills, if elected, would have been a freshman senator at age 79, the oldest in U.S. history. But who cares about age in politics nowadays, with President Trump at age 80 and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who recruited Mills to run for the Senate, at 75?

Mills trounced Republican Paul Lepage in 2022 for her current job, garnering nearly 56 percent of the votes cast. But what Mills and Schumer didn’t count on was the bearded combat veteran and Sullivan oyster farmer Graham Platner, 41, running in the Democratic........

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