And not nominate him.

There is a primary election. Maine voters will decide.

Are you a Maine voter? If not, you don't have a say.

David Costello. Why is he being ignored? It seems that the media has focused primarily on Platner because he makes better headlines. It is a very strange election.

And perhaps he doesn't poll well because no one is talking about him. Meanwhile Platner is in the news on a daily basis.

California's voting today, so I will spend my time meditating on that, lighting candles, and focusing solely on the ground, which is replete with rich, Californian soil. If my eyes do avert, they may gaze upon the Californian hills and the blue Californian sky.

As is right and proper for me, who lives in California.

I just don't participate in them unless they're in my own state. However, I hope what happened to All Franken, in my own state, does not happen in a similar way in Maine. I think that is appropriate for me to say.

I am also watching California, where I lived for over 50 years, leaving in 2004 to move to Minnesota.

I observe what I want and comment as I please.

I'm going to be generous as and assume of the OP:

Al Franken does not belong in this discussion

I'm learning more about the site Kik than I care to and I'm pretty certain there are screenshots out there.

Too much concern already in Maine politics.

I had intended that a playful little banter.

I apologize.

You are nothing like Susan Collins. I am not concerned about that.

I do enjoy playful banter with you but that was just too much, lol

Full stop.

It took him months after his election to get through ballot challenges, as well.

I like Tina Smith. She has done well. She is leaving now, and it looks likely that a Democrat will replace her.

you to resign or be fired.

They probably could've gotten those margins at the height of Al Franken's scandal.

Strictly though his boss were the voters and he had been reelected. There hadn't even been an ethics investigation.

but find someone else to replace Graham Platner? I agree sexting is bad especially if it is unwanted but Al Franken made unwanted advances toward other women.

My position on it is abundantly clear based on my other messages.

My sense is that the energy in this midterm election is different than Collins v. Gideon. I think there is enough anti-incumbent sentiment that Graham Platner will beat her.

I love Al Franken, and I really wanted him to run against Trump in 2020. I expected to be given the luxury of a riotously funny comedian excoriating Trump at every juncture. But he resigned - it was his choice, and I think he elevated his party. He has been a good Democrat, in service and out.

I can't particularly speak to Graham Platner's quality as a Democrat, yet. But I know he is a better one than Susan Collins. Much like, though he is a grotesque, Fetterman is better than Collins.

I'm not sure he fully realizes that, though. Very unfortunate.

There is a shadow behind his eyes, a tremor in voice. There is something broken in his old radio, and he can still play music on it, but it is buzzing. He's learned to adapt and go through the motions, but something isn't working right on the inside.

I watched his Bill Maher interview and it was legitimately troubling. He wasn't 'there'.

HOWEVER - this is not an excuse, he should resign. He isn't well enough to be invested with the power he has.

I agree 100%. I wish people would recognize that instead of calling him a liar, saying he was a "stealth" candidate, and all the other nasty things that have been said about him. It's an extremely frustrating situation, especially for Pennsylvania voters, but I think some people have been too quick to assume the worst about him.

I am 100% convinced that the man's brain is broken. He knows people in his party are upset with him but doesn't seen to be able to comprehend why. He should have resigned a long time ago, but his judgment is so damaged that he's not capable of realizing it. How sad and pathetic is that?

The situation sucks for everyone except the Republican senators he sometimes votes with. Is it maddening? Yes! But I don't think it's his fault. I think he's lost and confused, not evil.

could convince him to resign.

And He is not the only candidate on the ballot, there is ranked choice so he may not fare as well as many expect. The other candidates have actual experience in governing and I think Maine voters know it.

Just because a lot of out-of-staters want him doesn't mean he's the great messiah who is our only hope. Ranked choice is a new thing for me but I think I already like it more than I thought I would... not so much holding of the nose when choosing.

And this sexting scandal isn't changing their minds:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

We'll see in a couple weeks, won't we?

I don't know many folks here yet but I don't know anyone who's voting for him so...

We shall see.

He's got a steep climb with women's issues, that should be a consideration, I hope it is for a majority.

I doubt that will be a consideration for him.

I don't think Collins wants to go there as far as women's issues.

. . . "I'm electing a President, not a choir boy."

Just saying.

And in Platner's case, it isn't just one problem, he seems to have a whole lot of issues that are unsettling.

Purity tests mean throwing out the very people who can win for us and getting Trump instead.

that Platner has. All the deleted reddit posts, because we can be so sure that's all there is, right? I don't recall Bill Clinton making foolish comments about women essentially asking for it because they drank too much or dressed a certain way, or asking why black men don't tip, or saying a soldier killed in battle didn't deserve to live and on and on. It's endless with this guy, and a lot of Mainers feel we were cheated when Platner immediately dropped out of the debates after Janet Mills suspended her campaign.

The primary is June 9. Both David Costello and Janet Mills are highly qualified and on the ballot.
Obviously I'll vote for Platner if he wins the primary, but this is not a damn purity test.
Among other things, there's a major question about his judgment or lack thereof.

you got it

If you look at polling when it comes to Maine voters Platner is leading.

him flawed - for me as a Democrat with an interest in policy - do not disqualify him from my support - or my vote if I were in Maine. He is standing up for exactly the policies I want to see exemplified in a Democratic administration. I do not believe he would have voted for Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. I do not believe he would have voted for the tax cuts, or for the SAVE act. Just a few reasons why I would be voting for Platner and believe he can actually win in Maine.

I don't vote in Maine. If I did, I'd be voting for whichever Democratic candidate I thought had the best chance to show Collins the door. Period.

Franken touched multiple women without their consent.

Planter's sexting, while poor judgement, isn't about consent.

When Franken resigned he was replaced with a Democrat who is functionally the same. If Platner drops out (which no one is calling for him to do over the sexting), we would still have an opportunity to win the seat, but far from a certainty as was a Democrat replacing Franken.

But that said, Platner has a lot of baggage and not all of us are comfortable looking past it. There are principles that outrank party. Swalwell had to go regardless of implications in the House for example.

NT

They’re more than happy to try to push Platner out. He’s too “radical” for them. Talking about class consciousness issues, criticizing Israel’s horrific actions in Gaza and the surrounding region, calling for wealth taxes, really going after big oil and calling for universal healthcare just aren’t things they’re interested in or advocate for.

They don’t want to ruffle the feathers they make their nests with. Bottom line.

That someone had an exemplary resume, good politics, a record of winning in Maine, and name recognition. Gov. Mills looked like a sure win on paper, especially given that Graham Platner had no history in politics and had many, shall we say, problematic issues.

However, the campaign started, polling happened, and the writing has been on the wall. Graham Platner and his speaking won people over. Sufficiently many to have exhausted Janet Mills' campaign apparatus and force her to suspend her campaign.

Now, this tells us something about what is motivating voters and some skills/posture that Gov. Mills intrinsically lacks. And they appear to be what is motivating Maine democrats.

I have no problem

How did we get here, anyway?

Express any kind of respect for women and that might be a silent problem that women have had to keep their mouths shut about abusive male behavior and could affect his vote tally.

We shall see. The teevee is good at telling us what to think and how to act, perhaps the voting public is learning the difference between the teevee and RL.

If you have proof, share it.

Fyi

would be the possibility of future revelations. If there are none, Platner's golden.

I'd guess not good.

Just my opinion, but I don't trust people that attack Democratic Party candidates (or elected officials). Of course I encounter some folks who do so in my everyday life. By no coincidence, 99.9999% of them are maga cult members, and so I recognize there is nothing of value in what they say. I also see them on various internet sites, and most of them I know are maga cult members, and I assume the others are maga cult members, too.

I'm less comfortable when people attack a Democratic candidate on this forum. I'm not saying there is the influx of non-Democrats that have popped up around election time ever since I joined 20+ years ago. Now, I'm fine with expressing disagreements with our elected officials, but I do notice certain patterns in things people -- new and old -- post here. A tree is known by its fruit, I suppose.

it’s your play, Montana…..”
….or…..
“Everybody’s got something to hide except for Me and My Monkey…….”
If you’re still buying Teslas, Apple, Amazon, your Purity Test already has pecker-tracks all over it.
Personally, I think it would be a great idea to call all their correspondence “work product”, and make it all available to all the media, and we could see behind the “godly facade".

Franken was peak Democratic rolloverism.

Hated it at the time with a passion.

He wasn't perfect, but he was the kind of fighter this party needs, the "incident" was a long past moment in time that was not unusual for that time and not even all that out of place in that moment. And, it was pure ratfuckery at its core.

Plantar had enough baggage already, but if this situation is true it is its (along with the prior baggage) WAY worse than what Franken did.

But, standards are now so low, it would be another type of capitulation to try to make a move on him.

The primary cake is all but completely baked, past the point of being able to go with one of the other candidate and have any reasonable shot at taking Collins now.

As bad as his baggage is at this point, it still does not rise to the level of basically surrendering a run at Collins and a shot at the getting the senate - things are FAR too grave to indulge it unless he has even worse under the hood.

When the issue with Al Franken came up the Republicans were nominating Roy Moore who had his own issues of sexual misconduct and I don't think the Democrats could afford looking like hypocrites on the issue at the time and he lost and Democrats replaced Franken with another Democrat.

I actually think it is disrespectful to Platner to compare him to Franken unless the sexting was unwanted by the other women.

... with Platner in the NYT magazine section recently (maybe this weekend... I had 3 Sunday times to go through). He had excellent answers to the common complaints about him. I urge doubters to seek it out and read it.

Edit: The interview had to have happened before the Times and Journal stories were published.