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Bill Green is a retired broadcaster who serves on the boards of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame, Friends of Baxter State Park and the Casco Bay Institute. His sister works for Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign.
Lobster, low-bush wild blueberries, and a particularly distinguished group of U.S. senators.
What state am I talking about?
We make a big deal of the first two products, but we should be more proud of the third. In my lifetime, I believe no state has produced as influential, independent and intelligent a group of senators as we have. I think Margaret Chase Smith, Ed Muskie, George Mitchell, Bill Cohen, and Susan Collins are elite. Add Olympia Snowe, Bill Hathaway and Angus King. That’s not bad.
Other than a paper by former Colby Professor Sandy Maisel, I can’t find an actual ranking of states with the best senators. So, I’ll do one myself: We are the best.
That’s why this year’s Senate race between Susan Collins and Troy Jackson is so discouraging to me. Susan has a long record of Senate accomplishment, set Senate records for her hard work and most importantly brought home the bacon — $1.5 billion in federal financial support over the past five years.
Democrats have jumped on the opportunity to unseat her. When Graham Platner dropped out, Democrats quickly organized a convention and nominated Jackson, a candidate they may be able to control more than Planter. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren came to Maine to embrace him. Surely, I think someone wrote his script for the first debate.
In that debate Susan would point out something she said he didn’t understand, such as differences between the funding of Medicare and Medicaid. Troy quickly started thumbing through his notes. I was thinking he was going to say, “Just a minute! I’m looking for my answer!”
Later, in response to Susan getting tariffs lifted on road salt, he blurted “We can’t eat road salt,” and was heralded by supporters. I think if he had really driven all those miles that he put in for, he’d be more grateful for road salt.
Susan is a policy expert, but who wants to hear in-depth discussion? Who wants to hear about the nuances of the Ginsburg rule, for example? The answer is other able senators. They want to work with colleagues who think broadly and coherently. I think a new senator who speaks only in slogans is soon consigned to the “Show Horse” section of the Senate: Good on cable, lousy on the job.
Anybody who has watched Susan work the crowds at Maine fairs can see how she connects with Mainers. The affection for her is palpable. But so much of campaigning these days is ads, many of which are lies. The number of times that Susan has been accused of cutting Medicaid (or Medicare, or Social Security) is startling.
The dumbest ad I’ve heard is one of Troy’s. He says: “What this campaign is about is pretty simple.” (I agree.) “If you work hard, you ought to be able to take your kid to the doctor.” (You can.) “You ought to be able to buy groceries.” (We do.) “You ought to be able to retire with Medicare and Social Security that you earned.” (We do.) “It’s time that your hard work paid off.” (It has.) What solutions is he proposing? He sure hasn’t outlined them that I’ve seen.
It’s easy for a candidate to criticize and cast aspersions. It’s harder to write legislation that can get through a sharply divided Senate. Susan Collins has done so many times.
Stephen King took to Threads to say I was wrong to support Susan. There are two big differences between me and Stephen. The first is that he’s really talented. The second is I believe he only votes for Democrats. I have voted for people from both parties many times.
Maine has sent independent, intelligent and influential people to the U.S. Senate. They didn’t all agree with one another, but they understood the job and made their mark for Maine.
I try to pick the better candidate. Except for Bill Hathaway, I believe I voted for everyone on my list above.
To me, Troy Jackson doesn’t belong on that list and Susan Collins most definitely does.