So why did Tom Allen fail so miserably at taking out Susan Collins?

[liberalpragmatist]

Obama crushed McCain in Maine. And Tom Allen was a popular representative who represented half the state. Yet he lost by, I believe, over 20 points.

Was Collins that popular or was Allen just incompetent? Or both?

Right now, I'm almost as mad at Tom Allen for not beating Collins as I am at Collins.

[leftstreet]

1. Did the leading Dems throw their weight behind him?

Not familiar at all with the campaign.

[liberalpragmatist]

2. Yeah, he was a highly-touted recruit

And got tons of both DCCC money and money from the blogs early on.

[Ardent15]

3. I know she was very popular among Independents

Something like 67% favored her.

[RB TexLa]

4. Incumbent senators are very hard to beat. Especially after they have multiple terms

Constituency service is the key. You take care of grandma's social security or medicare problem, Uncle Joe's disability, or get someone some tickets to something on a trip to DC that gets votes.

Bringing home pork too. X million for a park does build a park for someone. The senator who got it doesn't call it pork when they go to the city it's built in to dig in with that silver shovel.

[Ardent15]

5. Also, you need fresh anti-incumbent sentiment

You need something like the drum-beat for the Iraq War, in which a lot of Democratic Senators who opposed it were called unpatriotic and subsequently were defeated, or similar fresh hostility to incumbents in order to beat em, typically.

Collins was one of the more moderate Republicans in a moderate state, so she snuck by.

[sandnsea]

6. Our Dem was from a Repub strong hold

I think that probably gave him just enough to squeak by Smith.

Where was Allen from?

[rpannier]

7. My understanding is she carries fairly high positives in Maine as does Olympia Snowe

Both are viewed as being similar to Lincoln Chafee in terms of politics.

I was not surprised she won.
I was that she won so easily

[RBInMaine]

8. Easy Answer: A SHITTY CAMPAIGN. (Read Further)

Yes, shitty. Shitty shitty shitty. Right out of the McGovern, Carter II, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry playbooks. 1) First, you NEVER, EVER allow your opponent to define you. This happened right out of the gate when the Card Check R-allies came out with a barrage of ads that tagged Allen as "anti-secret ballot" on unionizing. These attacks went virtually UNANSWERED. That is called STUPID, WEAK, and WIMPY. That alone KILLED his chances. 2) He ran an especially SHITTY campaign in the second Maine district which is Collins' home turf. His ads SUCKED, and he did not connect to this more rural part of the state at all. If he was going to have any hope at all, he needed to run essentially two campaigns with a very different strategy in the 2nd district to cut into Collins' popularity. Her ads were EXCELLENT ! His sucked, and he did not do nearly enough groundwork here out in the coffee shops and shopping mall parking lots pressing the flesh. He did silly little events with no one there but die-hard liberals and Democrats. You can't win that way.
3) His campaign simply lacked focus, clarity, and a solid NEGATIVE message against Collins. When you are trying to fire someone, you don't play super-nice. Allen did. He did not talk nearly enough about her 81% Bush voting record, etc. etc. 4) He did not exploit the CHANGE sentiment well at all. Again, WEAK MESSAGE. His mantra should have been the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF CHANGING THE SENATE IN ORDER TO MAKE REAL CHANGE, WHICH I EMBODY and NOT COLLINS WHO LOVES JOHN MCCSAME. His messaging sucked. 5) His positive message also lacked clarity. He should have pounded away on the positive he has done for Mainers. He didn't. Collins did. 6) His campaign simply lacked energy and enthusiasm, and he did little generate any. ** It would have been hard to beat Collins no matter what given her popularity, but he should have scored atleast 46-48% against her in this change climate where Obama won in Maine with 58% of the vote. He could have even beaten with a 51-52% if he had run the right camapaign from second one. HE RAN A SHITTY CAMPAIGN, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. NO EXCUSES!!

[eShirl]

9. Exactly!

Especially #1; he never recovered from that.

The only way I could convince my husband to vote for him was an appeal to widen the Democratic Party's majority in the Senate.

[eShirl]

10. Collins and Allen made an agreement not to go negative, meanwhile

the "Tom Allen wants to take away workers' secret ballot!" TV ads were run once, twice during every commercial break.

[RBInMaine]

11. STUPID to agree not to "go negative." And NO EXCUSE for failing to answer the card check attacks.