ME Sen I can't really be Collins it yet

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CASH ON HAND: Gideon $5.5 million, Collins $5 million
$ SPENT IN Q2: Gideon $7.2 million, Collins $3.6 million

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The ads really just write themselves.

https://twitter.com/SaraGideon/status/1281766994648469505

The ads write themselves but are never used. Instead she accuses Collins of pocketing money from pharmaceutical companies and intentionally including a loophole in the PPP that benefits hotels. Then her husband, who’s a lawyer, is revealed to have benefited from PPP money. Oh, and she feels the need to respond to a stupid NRSC attack ad, prompting the NRSC to use her ad to make another.

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The ads really just write themselves.

https://twitter.com/SaraGideon/status/1281766994648469505

The ads write themselves but are never used. Instead she accuses Collins of pocketing money from pharmaceutical companies and intentionally including a loophole in the PPP that benefits hotels. Then her husband, who’s a lawyer, is revealed to have benefited from PPP money. Oh, and she feels the need to respond to a stupid NRSC attack ad, prompting the NRSC to use her ad to make another.

IMO it's smarter to attack on healthcare than Roger Stone/impeachment.

It isn’t smarter if it doesn’t work. I guess that’s why she’s leading someone with a -20 approval rating by just 4 points despite outspending that person 2-to-1 since March.

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The ads really just write themselves.

https://twitter.com/SaraGideon/status/1281766994648469505

The ads write themselves but are never used. Instead she accuses Collins of pocketing money from pharmaceutical companies and intentionally including a loophole in the PPP that benefits hotels. Then her husband, who’s a lawyer, is revealed to have benefited from PPP money. Oh, and she feels the need to respond to a stupid NRSC attack ad, prompting the NRSC to use her ad to make another.

I mean, Collins is a federal lawmaker who was involved in creating the PPP legislation. Gideon is the Speaker of the Maine State House. I don't see how her husband taking PPP money is relevant.

Well, I agree, it isn’t relevant. I included that because I recently learned it.

Susan Collins isn’t seen as evil in Maine. They may think she’s spineless, a fake moderate, or McConnell’s puppet, but they don’t think she’s corrupt, or that money changed her.
Just like African-Americans ‘know Joe’, Mainers know Susan.

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I don't get it. Are you criticizing Gideon for not running an ad about something that happened 12 hours ago?

No.

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Collins says today that she wants 16 debates, one in each county.

The only logical conclusion from this statement is that Collins is down in her internals.

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/lets-debate-tonight-collins-responds-to-gideons-call-for-debates/97-359e2c22-b5c4-4bb1-bed7-0ff638b5db4e

You didn’t give the full picture. After winning her primary, Gideon challenged her to 5 debates, and Collins said she could do 16.

Maybe Gideon is down in her internals?

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Collins says today that she wants 16 debates, one in each county.

The only logical conclusion from this statement is that Collins is down in her internals.

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/lets-debate-tonight-collins-responds-to-gideons-call-for-debates/97-359e2c22-b5c4-4bb1-bed7-0ff638b5db4e

You didn’t give the full picture. After winning her primary, Gideon challenged her to 5 debates, and Collins said she could do 16.

Maybe Gideon is down in her internals?

5 is a lot different than 16. If Collins isn't down in her internals then the only other explanation is that she has taken leave of her senses. 16 debates is insane.

Neither, but the latter is actually more likely. Atlas mocked Ernst (and Trump) for asking for more debates. Gideon has done the same, and Collins said she could do more than that (knowing it was also a cheap ploy to make her seem out of touch). Also, we have seen 2 Collins internals that showed her up 1 and 8 points (the first was conducted by the Tarrance Group which is pretty accurate).

Let me ask you this though, do you think Gideon is down in her internals? If she has enough cash to boost her name recognition in the state, why is she calling for more debates? Is she looking for another, “The president has learned a pretty big lesson” moment? Can’t she beat an already unpopular Susan Collins without attacking her?

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Collins says today that she wants 16 debates, one in each county.

The only logical conclusion from this statement is that Collins is down in her internals.

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/lets-debate-tonight-collins-responds-to-gideons-call-for-debates/97-359e2c22-b5c4-4bb1-bed7-0ff638b5db4e

You didn’t give the full picture. After winning her primary, Gideon challenged her to 5 debates, and Collins said she could do 16.

Maybe Gideon is down in her internals?

5 is a lot different than 16. If Collins isn't down in her internals then the only other explanation is that she has taken leave of her senses. 16 debates is insane.

Neither, but the latter is actually more likely. Atlas mocked Ernst (and Trump) for asking for more debates. Gideon has done the same, and Collins said she could do more than that (knowing it was also a cheap ploy to make her seem out of touch). Also, we have seen 2 Collins internals that showed her up 1 and 8 points (the first was conducted by the Tarrance Group which is pretty accurate).

Let me ask you this though, do you think Gideon is down in her internals? If she has enough cash to boost her name recognition in the state, why is she calling for more debates? Is she looking for another, “The president has learned a pretty big lesson” moment? Can’t she beat an already unpopular Susan Collins without attacking her?

A challenger is going to ask for debates, but a supposedly safe incumbent usually doesn't. Gideon would want to raise her profile some with debates, whereas Collins is probably the one looking to create some sort of gotcha moment with Gideon. The difference between 5 and 16 is quite large. It's pretty crazy to even suggest 16 debates.

When internals are high on undecideds and tend to push the challenger below 40% while public polling shows otherwise then it's probably a poor internal.

Well, she’s the first major challenger this cycle to ask for 3+ debates. Harrison asked for 4, but he’s quite unknown in SC. Greenfield, Ossoff, Bullock, and Cunningham were fine with 3 debates, despite 3/4 of them having much less name rec than Gideon. Even McGrath hasn’t asked for more. And I think Gideon’s done perfectly fine raising her name recognition. She’s done so well (for us) that her favorability rating is literally 37/37, which is kinda bad for a challenger (she’s so lucky her opponent is more unpopular). Also, I don’t think Collins needs 16 debates to get that gotcha moment.

16 debates is crazy. But we don’t know if she’s serious. In my theory, she became ‘disappointed’ with the question (and its original source), and tried to sound smart by challenging her to a debate in every one of Maine’s 16 counties. Think about it, and I bet you’ll agree with me.

The first internal had Collins leading 48/47 (conducted by the polling firm that had Stabenow and Manchin up 7 and 4, respectively). The second is more fishy, but +8 is a pretty big lead (take off 6 points and it’s Collins +2). The only Gideon internal (+9) we got was “conducted” by an Illinois billboard/self-storage company.

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I find the argument that Collins is the favorite because of her past landslides unconvincing.
Mark Pryor won a second term unopposed in 2008 and just six years later he lost by 20. Maine isn't Arkansas but then again a loss is a loss, whether by 1, 5, or 10 points.

But you’re forgetting that Democrats won every statewide race in Arkansas in 2006, a year similar to ‘08. And that they lost every statewide race in 2014. The thing is, Pryor lost because his state changed. And there’s nothing he could do about it.

Susan Collins, on the other hand, defied a blue wave to win by 23 points. Maine hasn’t become significantly more Democratic/less Republican since 2014/2016, so I think your counter argument is... unconvincing.

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I find the argument that Collins is the favorite because of her past landslides unconvincing.
Mark Pryor won a second term unopposed in 2008 and just six years later he lost by 20. Maine isn't Arkansas but then again a loss is a loss, whether by 1, 5, or 10 points.

But you’re forgetting that Democrats won every statewide race in Arkansas in 2006, a year similar to ‘08. And that they lost every statewide race in 2014. The thing is, Pryor lost because his state changed. And there’s nothing he could do about it.

Susan Collins, on the other hand, defied a blue wave to win by 23 points. Maine hasn’t become significantly more Democratic/less Republican since 2014/2016, so I think your counter argument is... unconvincing.

We might as well be talking about a different world comparing 2008 and 2020. Back then ticket-splitting was still prevalent in many states. Not it's almost dead. If Biden wins Maine by double digits then I wouldn't bet my rent money that there will be little more than a handful of Biden-Collins voters.

In a state which Hillary Clinton won with 47 percent? Yeah, no. Biden may take those Gary Johnson voters for granted, but Gideon shouldn’t.

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Bangor Daily News endorsement
https://bangordailynews.com/2020/10/07/opinion/editorials/susan-collins-remains-best-choice-for-senate/

Endorsed Clinton in 2016 and Obama in 2012. Also endorsed Janet Mills in 2018 and independent Eliot Cutler in 2014.

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The Portland Press Herald endorsed Gideon yesterday.

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This thread has gotten pretty quiet. So much for this being a VA-10 2018/NV-SEN 2018/TX-07 2018/ME-SEN 1972/IL-SEN 2016 redux.  

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B-b-but she didn’t lead in a single poll!

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What the hell is Gideon going to do with all the money she raised?

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But, wbrooks87 told us that Gideon was gonna beat Collins, yeah this was a crow eating race for all elected D officials that assumed the D's that Collins was DOA and Tillis😭😭😭

Drag him king