Any chance we could pick off Collins or Snowe?

[sharp_stick]

I was reading about the pukes going after Collins, Snowe and Specter for their expected votes for the stimulus package.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/07/gop-senators-draw-partys_n_164960.html

Specter I couldn't give two shits about, he's a lying prick as far as I'm concerned, but I wonder whether or not Snowe and/or Collins could be "encouraged" to cross the floor into sanity? Maine appears to be going blue at a pretty impressive rate and it could extend their careers.

It wouldn't be any worse than that lying POS Richard Shelby dumping the Dems because he liked the racist policies of Rush and Newt back in 94 (I think it was 94).

[bluestateguy]

1. Collins is safely ensconded until 2014

Her opponent was a boob who never caught traction.

Oly Snow seems very safe too. I think we are just going to have to wait them out.

[w4rma]

3. Even though Snow won by a very large margin in 2006, Maine is a very small state. With the right

person and message, we could take her out. It just requires the right person, message and funding. She's not a good fit for such a progressive state.

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. Snowe is less vulnerable than Collins.

And neither is going anywhere, forever. The seats are theirs till they die, and sad to say, thanks to Democratic women. You can't beat a Republican who doesn't have a gender gap.

[w4rma]

9. There must be a popular female statewide politician up there who can peal off the women voters from

Snowe. We need someone who has won a statewide election, before.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. Been there, tried that, with one of the best...

and she now sits in the House, so we know she's electable -- Chellie Pingree. Didn't even make a dent in Snowe.

[w4rma]

13. Pingree ran against Collins back at the height of the GOP in 2002, not Snowe, and only lost by 16%.

I'm sure the voters know her much better now than they did back then (when she ran on an anti-war platform during the run up to the then popular Iraq War).

Back in 2002, the DLC had control of the DNC and weren't funding Iraq War opponents. I bet she'd get funding now.

[Davis_X_Machina]

15. Sorry if I muddled my point.

...The weaker one of the pair comfortably survived a challenge, at the end of a first term, by the best Democratic woman pol in the state. If it didn't snow in January, it won't snow in June.

They're both bulletproof. Not happy about it, but that's the way it is.

They are not seen as belonging to a party, and as a result reliably get 20-25% of registered-Democratic women's votes.

The state's fixation with non- or bi-partisan fairy tales (Longley, King, the ability of Greens like Rensenbrink to throw an election -- he elected Collins in the first place) guarantees their jobs, given the occasional ceremonial rebellion -- ANWR, Clinton's impeachment, etc.

Collins just got her bi-partisan ticket punched. I expect her next approval ratings here to top 70%.

[w4rma]

16. You're kidding me right? She ran as an Iraq War opponent, at the height of the GOP, probably poorly

funded since Iraq War opponents were being shut out of the debate at that time and the DLC still had control of the Democratic Party apparatus and still only lost by 16%. She could win that election now. I want to see new polling on this.

[Davis_X_Machina]

18. She had near 3 million dollars, the unions,,,

... which matter here (paper, BIW) and the unified support of the state Democratic apparatus -- I was at the convention that nominated her. She was a former Senate Majority Leader, with excellent name recognition, and plenty of TV time in that capacity. Lieberman, Daschle and Clinton campaigned for her. It was a DSCC top-tier race. The RSCC thought the seat was vulnerable.

And Collins won anyways, by 8% more than the closest mid-summer poll. She was pulling away at the end.

Collins is bulletproof. I'll be damned if I know why, but she is.

[w4rma]

19. Bush had a rediculously high approval rating then and Pingree was running against "The President".

Now times have changed quite a bit and the two GOP Maine so-called moderates are too partisan for America. Pingree can win in four years. Collins is *not* invincible. No where close, actually.

[Davis_X_Machina]

22. Call me in two years. We'll make a little bet.

I've rung too many doorbells in the deer-hunting exurbs to have any expectations. Collins will die in office unless she retires -- she's unfit for any other work where there's no staff to show her her marks and write her her lines.

Mainers -- or a good enough slice of them to elect a statewide politician -- want politics-without-politicians. Collins feeds off of that. Unless the zeitgeist changes, we'll get more Anguses and Susies and other immaculate conceptions. Hell, I had people complain to me the Pingree was 'a Washington insider.'

[w4rma]

24. Snowe's next election is in four years, not two. She was reelected in 2006. (nt)

[eShirl]

8. You don't know very much about Snowe, do you?

Or Maine.

[w4rma]

11. You don't know me, eShirl. (nt)

[BlooInBloo]

14. Is that even a word?

Or did you mean "ensconced"?

[KharmaTrain]

2. Collins Won Re-Election Last Year

She's won quite handily, too. Snowe is up in 2012...so the pressure they're getting is money and harrasing calls. Magic Arlen is up in 2010...and is more likely to bend to save his ass...but his problem is if he looks too accomodating, he's sure to face another expensive primary fight with some right wing nutbag.

The hope here is the wingnuts in the Senate caucus alienate the moderates...not just those three but Voinovich and Martinez who are on their way out. Then there's the Gregg situation...while his replacement sports some solid GOOP credentials, she's sure to be targeted by the DSCC and has proclaimed herself to be a "moderate". We shall see.

The game here will be to pick off the low hanging fruit where you can while you can. One problem is right now this stimulus bill has too much in it...if it's broken up it could be used as bait to shag a GOOP vote or two where its needed.

[DaveinMD]

4. Snowe is more likely than Collins

While Collins acts the part, Snowe is actually far more moderate than her.

[Bonn1997]

5. Do we really want to?

Or is better to be able to grab a few moderate Republicans so that our bills look at least a little bipartisan? If they and Specter were replaced by Dems and we passed a (better) bill with 61 Dems and zero Republicans, the Republicans and the media would be destroying us (even more so than they are now) in the spin game.

[w4rma]

6. That's what the current plan is, but the GOP so-called moderates aren't acting very moderate. (nt)

[Bonn1997]

17. They agreed with 90% of the bill and compromised

Conservatives are criticizing them for caving into the liberals; liberals are criticizing them for being too conservative and uncompromising. That usually only happens to people who are fairly moderate.

[w4rma]

20. Almost 60% of America voted Democratic this election. The Maine so-called moderates are out of touch

The cuts they demanded aren't moderate, education is *very* popular, and a Democrat can run against those cuts.

Of course in Maine that percentage of Democrats is much higher.

[Davis_X_Machina]

23. Mainers vote for these fakers...

...not because they want Republicans, or because they don't want Democrats, but because they don't want any politicians at all. Immaculately conceived politics.

The pair have carefully constructed public personas as non-politicians, or anti-politicians. Hell, if you told me that off camera Collins sounded like Emma Thompson, I'd not be surprised.

And Mainers love that. That's the dark side of some good things, like publicly-financed elections, and a strong third-party tradition.

I'm from Massachusetts originally, where Democratic politics and American League baseball are basically the world, so I don't understand the mind-set, but there it is.

[jpak]

10. Snowe could face a far right-wing GOP primary opponent - which would be a hoot

and maybe a strong Democrat in the general.

It all depends on the success of the stimulus package,

[saltpoint]

21. At the moment, those 3 are the only Republican votes for President

Obama's stimulus bill.

I'd like a liberal Democrat to replace Specter, no matter what, but have to trust Pennsylvania voters to make a good decision. Specter survived a brutal primary challenge from a Far-Right kook his last election by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin. He gives signals of running for re-election, but he may be vulnerable. I've never liked him much. We'll take his vote on the stimulus package if he's still willing to give it. I'm not sure he's good for much else.

Collins defeated a pretty good Democrat this past November. I think she's pretty entrenched and likely to hold that seat as long as she is still breathing.

Snowe, to me, is the most agreeable of the trio. It will be interesting to see how she votes with a new, inspired President who carried her state handsomely against the ticket of her own party. There is intermittent chatter about Snowe changing to the blue team. This would give her significant cover to "vote more appropriately" -- removed from the pressure and machinations of McConnell, Kyl, and other lunkheads in the GOP.