The King-Democrat Alliance Now In The Open

Are you one of the three people who still believed Angus King was “an independent voice”, and that he would not be aligning himself with the Democrats?

Are you also one of the equally small number of people who did not believe that the race for United States Senate was actually tightening to a point that would threaten King’s prospects of winning?

Well, after today both of these notions should have evaporated entirely.

Yes, friends, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is going on the air to attack Charlie Summers.

I think even the most blinding partisan among us can agree that the DSCC, who is locked in a mortal death-match to retain control of the Senate this year, isn’t wasting money on Maine to support a candidate (Cynthia Dill) who is polling in the low teens, and has absolutely no chance of being a Senator.

If they were attempting to help Dill, they would be doing one of two things: attacking King to dislodge liberal voters from him who would more naturally fit with Dill, or going on the air with pro-Dill ads to pump up her favorability ratings.  If the goal was to help Dill, going after Summers makes no sense at all.

The engagement from the DSCC, which diverts nearly a half million dollars of resources from other races to Maine, is not something they had wanted to do.  They would much rather sink that money into Montana, Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Florida or Ohio.

But they have clearly determined that if Summers isn’t disqualified immediately, he threatens to continue to close the gap with King to the point of the race being in jeopardy.

It also means, quite obviously, that the national Democratic establishment views King as a vote for Harry Reid, otherwise they wouldn’t be bothering.  If they believed he would withhold a caucus vote, or caucus with the Republicans, this move would be counterproductive.

All of this is so elementary and obvious that a social studies student in middle school could figure it out, so it appears that all pretense is over.  The little dance King and the Democrats have been doing around each other is over, and we have our answer.

Now, if only Angus King was forthright and honest enough to tell the people of Maine his intentions regarding his caucus vote we could finally have a real election.

I won’t be holding my breath, but it is time for the Maine media to put away the kid gloves and stop letting King get away with his little game.

Matthew Gagnon

About Matthew Gagnon

Matthew Gagnon, of Yarmouth, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free market policy think tank based in Portland. Prior to Maine Heritage, he served as a senior strategist for the Republican Governors Association in Washington, D.C. Originally from Hampden, he has been involved with Maine politics for more than a decade.