Collins back for a third term
11/4/08 | 15 comments
U.S. Senate

Collins back for a third term


By Bill Trotter
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY KEVIN BENNETT
Senator Susan Collins cast her vote on Tuesday November 4, 2008 at Bangor High School. Buy Photo

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins scored an easy victory Tuesday night in her bid for a third consecutive term in the U.S. Senate.

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. Collins, a Caribou native and Bangor resident, was ahead of her challenger, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Portland, 60.3 percent to 39.7 percent, according to unofficial returns compiled by the Bangor Daily News.

Click here to see updated, statewide election results.

Collins, calling her campaign a “great victory,” said her win shows that Mainers recognize the value of her record in Congress despite attempts to distort it.

“The results show the people of Maine knew that I worked very hard for them,” Collins said by phone from Portland. “The message I heard was that they were tired of excessive partisanship.”

She said Allen had put up a strong fight in trying to win her seat.

“Tom was a very formidable opponent,” Collins said. “He was the strongest opponent that I could have had. He was encouraged to run by national Democratic leaders.”

Collins called Sen. Barack Obama’s White House win “an impressive one” and said that, though she was rooting for McCain, she looked forward to working with the Obama administration.

The immediate challenges the new Congress will face, Collins said, is addressing the continuing economic crisis and the need for a new energy bill.

“Those are the two priorities for me,” she said.

Allen said he had called Collins at about 10 p.m. to concede the race.

“I congratulated her on her victory,” Allen said. “She’s obviously a very strong opponent. She had high approval ratings.”

He said he felt good about the campaign and the effort his campaign made.

“I’m really proud of what we did,” he said. “We put the state in play.”

Allen said that, though he may have fallen short in his Senate bid, he feels the country won Tuesday night by electing Obama president and by voting for a wider Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.

“This is a great night for the American people,” Allen said. “The challenge for me was not to make this [race] about Tom Allen and Susan Collins, but about the policies that affect the people of Maine. The policies and positions I’ve been fighting for are now majority positions.”

When asked about his immediate plans, Allen responded with one word.

“Rest,” he said. “I expect to be doing letters of recommendation for my staff. They’ve done a phenomenal job.”

During the campaign, Allen tried to paint Collins as an ally of the president and a supporter of his unpopular policies, but Collins responded by drawing attention to bipartisan legislation she has written and to issues on which she differed with Bush.

Collins also referred to statistics that suggested Allen was more partisan, had passed fewer bills, and had missed more votes than she had. Allen stuck by his voting record, saying that had participated in more votes than Collins, because the U.S. House routinely has more votes than the Senate, and that he participated in 98 percent of the votes held in the House.

The election set a new record for fundraising for a Maine election. Allen and Collins raised roughly $13 million between them, exceeding the previous mark by $5 million.

The previous record of $8 million was set in 2002, when Collins was re-elected over challenger Chellie Pingree, who on Tuesday won the seat Allen decided to vacate in order to challenge Collins.

The unprecedented campaign spending bankrolled a flood of television ads, which have been supplemented by spots financed by third-party groups.

The race was viewed as a test of whether moderate Republicans have a future in the Northeast, where Collins and fellow Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe are among the last survivors of the breed. Democrats were buoyed by the defeat two years ago of Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, which demonstrated that even a personally popular Republican is at risk in New England, and hoped for a similar outcome in Maine.

Despite the continued unpopularity of President Bush, Collins’ theorized vulnerability never panned out as the election drew closer. Several polls taken over the past month indicated Collins had a double-digit lead over Allen, from 12 percentage points to as many as 20.

During her re-election campaign, Collins traveled in a bus around the state and over the final few days made several appearances in eastern Maine. She traveled to Washington County on Saturday, stopping in Calais, Machias and other towns, and on Monday traveled to Aroostook County to make campaign appearances in the St. John River Valley. She started Tuesday in Caribou and then traveled south, stopping in Bangor and then Auburn on her way to Portland for her election night celebration.

Allen also kept a frenetic schedule in the campaign’s closing days. On Monday, he started in Biddeford and then traveled to Bangor, making several appearances along the way. On Tuesday, he started early in Bangor and then made appearances in Waterville, Augusta, Lewiston and Auburn before making several stops in Cumberland and York counties. Allen’s campaign encamped Tuesday night at the Wyndham Hotel in South Portland to watch and wait as the election results rolled in.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments
15 comments on this item
On 11/5/08 at 12:56 AM, listenup wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Time for a change............ What happened?

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On 11/5/08 at 6:32 AM, president1 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The staff in Bangor office of Susan Collins did an excellent job representing me recently. Mike and Diedre are great Americans and dedicated civil servants. An anonymous thank you to you both for making some right of a terrible unjust situation. You both saved my life.

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On 11/5/08 at 8:53 AM, mimosmom wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Senator Collins office searched for and got word to my niece, In South America, when her father died; our family is forever grateful for that. However, that was also 11 years ago, a political lifetime. Susan almost always votes along party lines, and she is no friend of education, either. Her ads about Tom's absences from the House votes are completely unfair - he missed a hundred and something out of thousands!

I agree, it is time for a change, and I, a registered Republican, am very sad that Tom Allen won't have a chance to represent the 2nd District in the Senate.

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On 11/5/08 at 9:12 AM, pcme2000 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I am very happy that Susan Collins won again. I voted for her re-election and passed on her word to help win.

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On 11/5/08 at 9:24 AM, GrannyBgood wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Susan Collins won because Tom Allen has been such a wimp on important issues like standing against the War in Iraq, and generally failing to stand up for the progressive principles we put him in there to support!

Collins better not be fooling herself about that, and whether she likes it or not, things WILL change, with or without her. She'll no longer be able to get away with her shameless pandering to big business and corporations. Her party and their way of doing things has been thoroughly repudiated by the voters on a national level.

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On 11/5/08 at 10:12 AM, thekingofmaine wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

1994: Michael Collins charged with marijuana possession whay is this not an issue now? I saw a videotape in my journalism class and everyone in Bangor went APE SHIT over that

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On 11/5/08 at 10:12 AM, thekingofmaine wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

i did vote for her tohugh

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On 11/5/08 at 10:42 AM, Cherry wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I just found out she is gay! Damn, if I knew that, I would have voted for her, but I ddn't so I went with Allen. Shucks. She should just come out of the closet. At least we are getting more accepting of people with lisps.....but I for one am glad not to hear her voice on the radio or tv for a while anyway....Thusan Collingsth

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On 11/5/08 at 12:04 PM, WorkingMom wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Whatever happened to only serving 2 terms and getting out? I am extremely disapointed.

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On 11/5/08 at 12:49 PM, RevGerald wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care, and safeguarding individual rights. That it is still in power, and will remain in power after this election, is a testament to our inability to separate illusion from reality.

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On 11/5/08 at 2:18 PM, WorkingMom wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Ok.....so RevGerald is describing the Rebublican party as "our oligarchic class" who has been running the show the last 8 years with empty promises, going no-where bridges and leaving our men behind on both foreign and domestic soil ????

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On 11/5/08 at 2:54 PM, pandaslady wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I don't think it is any secret that she is gay (she is constantly with Lindsey Graham from SC, another gay senator) but I am always disturbed at how she speaks out both sides of her mouth. She claims to be 100% pro life, yet was one of the first to vote and support Bush in killing over 4000 soldiers in their foolish endeavor in Iraq. When she goes to communion at St. Mary's I shudder at what God must be thinking of her. I know that church is for sinners and am glad to see her there. Of course, if it were for the vote, she would find a way to juthtify it.

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On 11/5/08 at 3:20 PM, mainemom wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

One cannot compare abortion to war.

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On 11/5/08 at 3:29 PM, mainemom wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What is not OK is for someone to say, "You are not pro-life because you support the war." In fact, one may support the war precisely because he or she is pro-life and concludes that in this case, force is the only way to protect human life, human rights, and human freedom from the hands of those who would destroy it. -Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life

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On 11/6/08 at 8:42 AM, DowneastFF wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Pro-Life-- The soldiers are adults. The Soldiers make the decision to join the military, and the soldiers KNOW from the beginning that they have to do what they have to do to protect their country. pandaslady: "She claims to be 100% pro life, yet was one of the first to vote and support Bush in killing over 4000 soldiers in their foolish endeavor in Iraq." -- Susan Collins may be pro-life, but she has no control on soldiers joining the military. That is the purpose of the military, to fight for our country. We were attacked and Bush did the right thing. He, along with Congress (because he can't make and approve the decisions all by himself) and any other president that may have been in office would have done the same thing. I get a kick out of you foolish democrats that think this war is all Bush's fault. It was the Iraqi's and the Muslims for attacking our country in the first place. Whether we like it or not, ANY President in OFFICE would have had to retaliate. Get a brain, and think outside the box for once. Coming from a military family, I do like to see troops over seas getting killed, but that's life, and that's their duty. Respect the troops, SUPPORT our troops. That's why Republicans are the one with common sense, and the ones more willing to stand up for our country.

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