Is the "tracking" issue causing a problem for Allen?

[RBInMaine]

Have people heard about this "tracking" issue where Allen's campaign has
apparently hired someone to "track" Susan Collins, follow her around, take her picture, etc. It has come out on local tv news and in the Bangor Daily News editorial pages about Collins' campaign claiming she is being virtually stalked by this hired tracker and that the Allen and Dem campaign refuse their requests to remove the "tracker". The way it is being vetted is making us Dems not look too good. While some level of tracking is common practice in campaigns, the Collins people and the media are making this sound the our people are, again, essentially stalking and harassing Collins which is "not the Maine way."
What do people think our side should do?

[MaineDem]

1. I don't think so

First of all, it's very early and most people aren't paying attention.

I will be very surprised if the GOP doesn't do the same thing. This is a highly targeted race and I assume the Republican Senate Campaign will dump tons of money into it. They will want a tracker. We will be able to point a finger back to this and comment on the hypocrisy of her campaign. (In addition to the pledge to only serve two terms, for example.

I don't know how close he actually was to Susie but perhaps he can maintain a reasonable distance in the future.

[Angsty]

2. It should be stopped

It looks awful and will definitely turn some people off. It's not worth doing.

[high density]

3. The only people outraged about this are diehard Republics

who would never vote for Allen anyway.

[MaineDem]

4. I disagree

Some people aren't going to vote for Tom in any case.

Susan was well aware of the practice and didn't have a problem with it when she met "my tracker" (those are her words.)

We need to make sure she isn't telling people here in Maine one thing and voting a different way in DC. There should be nothing intrusive about using this practice. Candidates expect it.

[Angsty]

5. Hope you're right...

There are people on both sides that have made their minds up regardless of this issue, but don't forget that a LOT of people have voted for both Allen AND Collins in the past. She obviously gets more than just Republican votes or she'd be stuck in the 30% range. It won't affect my vote, but I still think it's tacky.

[Shorebound]

6. Media accounts

The descriptions I saw in the newspaper and television reports made it sound like this tracker was pushing his camera into Collins' face from five feet away. Whatever the truth of the thing, the news reports are painting it very negatively for Tom's campaign. Could be a case of someone new to the job being a little over-enthusiastic?

[MaineDem]

7. Here's the you tube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqQqzdBHC70

[crim son]

8. I've heard of it, through my republican bf.

Maybe dems aren't paying attention, but the repukes sure are. I think the tracker business stinks. Anything he learns through stalking would be viewed with suspicion, like a confession made under torture.

[luckyleftyme2]

9. starting to get down and dirty

this tracking is done by both sides and has been going on for years. you can tell the right is scared because their throwing mud already. as you can see on the u tube the tracker and miss collins were very cordial.
but if you listened to the wing nuts he was shoving the camera in her face and being rude to her.
we had a name for those boys in the service. never had a pair of shoes to wear except on sunday "shit stirrers".
if your a northern boy you get a rude awakening when you cross the mason dixon line.
illegal gambling,prostitution,drugs,and hate pedaling is rampant. poor pay,no Benny's is the norm.
most people don't bother to look up the statistics of the so called bible belt. well incest,divorce,poverty, child abuse and prostitution are the highest per capita in these states.
look it up.
as for susan i'm one who voted for her in the past but will def. vote for allen this time.
the reason is the war,the money this administration has wasted,the lack of a decent health -care system for all and no foward thinking plans for the future.

[Deep Thinker]

10. lucky, why so much hate?

Lucky,

I have not posted here in a while because you are so full of hate for the guy in fox. I have now met him several times and he is a decent guy. I heard him this morning. He said tracking was okay, but getting into Collins personal space was not. He referenced photos on asmainegoes and from what I saw, he is right, the guy was too close.

Why do you hate this guy so much? You write about him a lot and it discourages others from posting here because you always bring this guy into your stuff.

Who cares what he thinks. We will never win him over just as he will never win us over. I don't think he has ever wanted for anything and thats why he does not understand how it really is for working people. There are some on our side like that as well.

Give up the hate for this guy, find a grammar checker, use some paragraph spacers and lets talk about the real issues and how we win. People who watch fox are not with us and never will be.

[luckyleftyme2]

11. your close

but you missed the mark,it wasn't just him but all the brain washed people like him.
did you happen to see his outlook on unions? have you ever been involved where a company
was voting to decide to go union or not? I Have.
Have you ever been involved in construction? I have!
Have you ever seen a union company called in to bail out a non-union company ? I have!
yes right here in maine!
yes it was a leading maine non-union contractor at the time-yes there was federal people supposedly making sure the workers were not intiminated when they voted-if you call foreman and superintendents screaming at the men voting non-intiminating then your right.
well it back fired-they voted union. guess what they closed the doors for 30 days and re-opened under another name.
its a given that in the construction trade union workers are more skilled,that non-union contractors pay lees,give little in benifits and pocket larger profits.
so ya ,i got a beef with someone who knows little and disrupts the progress of the working man.
i'm not worried about my grammar,or where my next meal is coming from but what my children
and grandchildren will have to pay when no one stands up to these blow-hards.
and why is a political group allowed to be tax exempt? such as the think tank he so proudly quotes?
oh and p.s the project i'm talking about was the test site project through back bay(sand drains) and it was a maine union contractor that bailed them out!

[Deep Thinker]

12. Yes, he loves MHPC

Of course he loves MHPC. They all worked for Cianchette and I saw him in a lot parades for Cianchette. He told me he goes a long way back with them when I asked him why Becker was on every week.

He also doesn't think they should be tax exempt and has said so repeatedly. He doesn't think churches should be tax exempt either.

I like his program even though I usually disagree with him. He raises a lot of issues no one else talks about or how the courage to talk about. Even if he is on the wrong side, he lets the other side have their say.

Southern boys from well-to-do families do not like unions. Apparently he is no exception, but he gave the union guy a respectful half hour Friday and I learned from both of them.

He is always talking about the average man and so are you. Maybe you two are not that far apart. Besides, someone who laughs as much at himself as he does cannot be all bad. I am glad you clued me in to him earlier this year.

He is misguided lucky, that's all, but he is not a bad guy and he does a lot in the community. He serves at a soup kitchen that I do. That is when I saw him the last time. I bet you didn't know that.

[luckyleftyme2]

13. thats ur take

he also has been known to disrupt meetings that involve other views on how may berry is run;and I happen to have past and present ties to that town.
he is also known to be abrasive rude and loud. but thats not my beef.nor did I intend to exclude him in my initial reply. I INCLUDE ALL THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR BONES ON THE WORKING MAN'S BACK.
And you have your right to your opinion,as I do mine. but my experience that ideas like his move us backward.
how can you say that the opposition has done anything but place a burden on the working man? well they've squeezed long enough;its time to squeeze back.
they only get into office by deceit. and they're in your pockets the whole time they are in office
THEIR HASN'T BEEN A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE SINCE DWIGHT EISENHOWER.
AND I'M NOT SURE HE BALANCED HIS BUDGET!

[Shorebound]

14. Eisenhower

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/sloeis.html

Eisenhower managed to balance the budget three years out of his eight in office. Only Lyndon Johnson has done so in the years since, and then only for one year.

I sort of liked Ike. He was ... comfortable. Too bad he didn't stand up more to McCarthyism.

[ticapnews]

16. Are you forgetting the Clinton years?

According to the White House budget history, Eisenhower balanced the budget three years - Fiscal Years 1956, 57 and 60.

However, Bill Clinton had a budget surplus for four consecutive fiscal years, 1998-2001.

(in millions)
1998: 69,213
1999: 125,563
2000: 236,445
2001: 127,424

[Shorebound]

19. Quite right

I had forgotten the Clinton surpluses during the stock market boom years. Relied too much on google that time. Thank you for the correction.

[luckyleftyme2]

23. deep thinker

I hope you watched his program today. for if you did you can see why I say his kind of thinking takes us backward. He is anti-union,and also anti-worker.
Out of his mouth,if a man gets hungry enough he'll take any job.
the down side of this statement: do you want your neighbor to live in poverty? no benefits,no medical benefits,no pension and no future for him or his children?
now lets talk about the subject of non-union contractors:
how many of these members of abc are prime contractors? do they pay dues? you bet your butt they do.
and the majority of their members are not prime contractors.
do these contractors provide health care,vacation time,sick leave etc. =the majority do not.
Is their seniority,is it a permanent job? is the job seasonal?
do they depend on labor at the lowest pay and benefits to create large profits? you bet your butt they do!
do they let people go who won't work long hours (usually 50- 60 hour week)you bet they do.
what is their greatest fear=new kid on the block that pays benefits,good wages and a benefit package with health and pension plan.
think this over carefully: your a crane operator,one of the best in the state;their are two job openings: one pays $12 per hour no benefits the other pays $16 per hr. with health ins,a pension plan and a weeks vac. after a year.
your a family man,which job would you take=you bet your butt you go union!

I rest my case:been their done that!

[mainer]

25. What photos are you referring to? Link, please!

You said there were photos showing the tracker in Collins's face posted on the Repub site asmainegoes, but I couldn't find them there. I've only seen the Youtube video, in which he is definitely not in her face. Could we see the photos?

[ticapnews]

15. There was an email from the campaign a while ago

It asked people to keep track of Susie's public statements, any clippings that appeared in local papers, etc. It encouraged people to go to public events and hear what she said to make sure the media reported accurately - and to make sure she wasn't saying one thing here in Maine while voting another way in DC.

That's it. If reading the paper, watching local news and attending speeches given by politicians now qualifies as "stalking" this country is in more dire straits than I thought.

[luckyleftyme2]

17. ah -yes

and what happened to the surplus? perhaps a more interesting answer to deep thinker would've been more facts as to why the right is not to be trusted. we are not #1 in many things,for instance science,math,literacy,social status,health care or free time to spend with our family.and no liberal is not commie but pro business to the point of corruption
is definitely socialism!
now i'm not saying we haven't been number#1 in all the above at one time or another or that it's all the Rights fault.but they sure have been a major cause for much of it.
the ole saying "keep em dumb and numb" "keep em down on the farm" "what they don't know won't hurt them" is harder and harder to do with the invention of the computer.
I have an idea that our overall score as a nation would avg us at about 25th to 35th in all statistics.
you still hear the right spieling how single payer or govt. health care would bankrupt us.yet per capita right now we spend two and half times what Canadians spend and all their people are covered.
who do you think is spreading thats not a fact?paid for think tanks? of course it will raise hell with insurance companies,and how they will have to adapt.
it didn't bother them when the auto,steel,textile and all the other industries went by the way side. it won't bother me when their turn comes.greed killed them!

[Deep Thinker]

18. Lucky

There are some on the right who agree with you. The guy you are always downing does. He has chastised the President repeatedly for reckless spending. I even heard him say it to Tony Snow on the air.

He doesn't think Bush represents conservatives, do you?

Why do you focus on them so much? We should be helping Allen beat Collins. Collins is well thought of statewide. Allen has a big task, but he can do it if we stay positive and don't go nasty. Maine will not take kindly to a man attacking a woman in the press or otherwise.

Tom has been against the war from day one. He was right. He did not have to learn this after 3000 plus deaths and several hundred billion dollars. We should play up his credentials as one who supports diplomacy, workers rights, equal rights, national healthcare and strong education.

Susan does not have those credentials and we need to make sure every Maine person who can vote knows it.

[mainer]

20. WATCH the Youtube video -- he's very polite!

And he does not shove the camera in her face. Also, she very good-naturedly greets him. I don't see anything disagreeable about this encounter at all, and as far as i've heard, this was all that happened.

[luckyleftyme2]

21. THIS IS WHAT I SAID

Deep thinker seems to forget his friends comment about allen;that he's a commie liberal.
I think his friend has dammed BUSH but voted for him anyway. which tells me he's not and educated voter simply a person who is gonna be right no matter what.like a spoiled child who
sticks to his guns when even he knows he's wrong.
watch the posturing when he's called on his statements.
MORE than once i've stated THAT I VOTED FOR COLLINS IN THE PAST;BUT NO WAY WILL I VOTE FOR HER AGAIN.the reason she continues to fund the war(which is contributing try and make a wrong right) which has been mis-managed from the git-go!
but that is not all,she's against a one payer health insurance for all!
she was on the committee that over looked the VA,their is unaccounted or lost equipment
shipped to IRAQ (AMOUNTING TO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.) homeland security has wasted billions
no its time for her to go.shes been to long in malfunction junction.

[Deep Thinker]

27. lucky

Hey, he is wrong about the issues, but you make him out to be the devil and I can tell you he is not.

He respects Allen, but he has said many times Allen is a socialist. I heard him say it to Allen when he was on the program.

You missed his point on the "take any jobs." I got it, quit giving able-bodied people welfare and make them work.

Let me ask you. Do you support giving indefinate welfare to an able-bodied person? If you are for the working man, why do you want him to work harder to support someone else who is capable?

I support the single-payer approach because it will force everyone to contribute to health care costs and eliminate those who refuse to participate and cost us more. Allen is completely correct. I only wish he would sponsor legislation that allows all Americans to join the federal government health plan by paying a nominal cost. It is a good plan and would make affordable health insurance a reality for all Americans.

[MaineDem]

22. I think this was a set-up

Collins knows if it's about issues she'll lose. This is a Rovian-type distraction to get something besides her support for Bush planted in people's minds.

It's widely assumed - almost known - that her campaign will have a tracker on Allen soon.

[MaineDem]

24. Can we please keep to the topic?

Throw flames somewhere else, if you must.

Many of the posts on this thread are totally off-topic.

[luckyleftyme2]

26. and what is the topic

the fact that someone is tracking collins? or how do we disrupt the allen campaign? it appears that the u tube article didn't stop the negative replies.
since I was one of the first to declare that I was for allen; I FEEL I SHOULD protect him
from an attempt to hinder him.
we all know that tracking is done by both parties;that was used effectively by the "rove"
crew.