In Maine, the new politics meets the old

From now until election day, Maine will be at the center of the political universe. The outcome of that state’s U.S. Senate contest will likely determine whether Democrats have a chance of wresting control of Congress’s upper chamber from the Republicans. 

When Maine voters mark their ballots, they will know two things: one, that incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has directed millions of dollars to the state, and two, that reelecting her guarantees Republican control of the U.S. Senate.

The battle between Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson is more than a contest between two well-qualified candidates. It is a fight between the old politics versus the new politics. 

The progenitor of the old politics was the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.), who coined the phrase “all politics is local.” O’Neill’s aphorism prioritized the importance of earmarking federal dollars to a given member’s congressional district or state. And as members gained seniority, they grew ever-closer to the pinnacle of power by becoming chairs of powerful congressional committees. 

Collins is a beneficiary of the old politics. First elected to the Senate in 1996, she currently chairs the all-important Senate Appropriations Committee. With that post comes millions of dollars Collins has directed toward Maine. One pro-Collins advertisement boasts that she has acquired $190 million for the state’s rural hospitals, ending with the tag line, “Call and thank our senator, Susan Collins, for delivering this lifeline to Maine.”

Replacing the old politics is a new politics whose maxim is that “all Politics Is National.” In........

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