Platner Post Mortems

I've got to say I'm disappointed that Graham Platner dropped out of the Maine Senate race, because having him stay on the ballot would have been just too delicious. But there's plenty of awkwardness and embarrassment yet to come. Just for starters is the Maine Democrat chair's message, embedded in Mark Halperin's 2WAY YouTube above:

As you know, the Maine Democratic Party has been working around the clock to develop a process to replace our US Senate nominee that is open, inclusive, transparent, and fair. the integrity of this process is just as important as the outcome, and we are committed to ensuring that Democrats across our state can have confidence in both.

Because, of course, last month's primary wasn't open, inclusive, transparent, and fair enough. She goes on, to cackles from one of Halperin's guests,

We have repeatedly reiterated [sic] to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the US Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like.

I'm not sure bhow they'll be able, first, to create and promulgate an open, inclusive, transparent, and fair process to pick a new nominee, and then to implement it in an open, inclusive, transparent, and fair way before July 27. For starters, a girlboss type may not be the best spokesperson for the project, but maybe that's just me.

Another intriguing development yesterday was the gathering at Platner's home before he announced he was dropping out:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s silver-spoon socialist adviser, Morris Katz, rushed over to beleaguered Graham Platner’s house Wednesday as they plotted how to remain a powerbroker in the Senate race — enraging Democrats.

The gathering included Platner’s top campaign brass in addition to Katz, who is trying to hatch a plan for Platner to “remain a voice” in the Senate contest “no matter what” the accused rapist decides, a source familiar with deliberations told The Post.

. . . His intransigence has left Maine Democrats “livid” and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) “in shock,” according to the source.

Well, you can tell from the Halperin clip that the girlboss is not amused, anyhow. The piece continues,

“The fact that the NYC mayor’s fixer is headed there to triage Maine has everyone fuming,” the source added.

Allies of Platner argue that he formed a movement in Maine, touting the over 150,000 votes he notched in the primary, and deserves to remain influential.

. . . Two sources say Katz has told allies he believes Platner should to leave the race before the 5 p.m. Monday deadline to withdraw from the ballot — but wants the exit to be on the candidate’s terms.

“It’s quite clear that he’s [Platner’s] gonna have to get out of the race,” a second source told The Post. “Their reluctance here … is a result of their larger political project, trying to get these types of candidates into places of power.”

Other campaign officials seen entering Platner’s Sullivan home include field director Spencer Toth, digital communications consultant Ryan Aquilina, campaign manager Ben Chin, and Chin’s deputy Eleni Neyland.

A later report suggests the leverage Senate Democrats were able to apply:

Just hours after the latest rape claims, Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) issued a joint statement denouncing Platner.

“The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing – violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable,” it said.

“Graham Platner needs to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins. The DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.”

. . . Platner lashed out at those who abandoned him and pulled his financial support.

“We are going to lose our ability to fundraise. We are going to lose our ability to access voter data. We are going to lose all of the things that any campaign needs on the basic level simply to function,” he bemoaned.

“Larger organizations, the national level party, the bigger donor networks – they have all committed to spending no money in this race if I’m in it,” Platner continued. “They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine,” he said.

In other words, grassroots donations weren't going to pay the big-bucks salaries of all the hangers-on who gathered at Platner's house yesterday afternoon. Might there have been a deal to keep those folks off unemployment, or have the establishment Democrats dealt the DSA a mortal blow in the Platner fiasco? In any case, according to the UK Guardian,

The state party said on Wednesday it would hold a nominating convention to pick a new candidate.

But one complicating factor has been that Platner won more primary votes than any Democratic Senate candidate in the state’s history, and energized a coalition that the establishment favorite, governor Janet Mills, never matched. Some have suggested that his successor will need to carry forward that energy, while others are arguing the new nominee will have to be independent from him, or risk being seen as his protégé.

Whoever takes the position will have little time to prepare for a general election against Collins, a five-term incumbent.

Media conventional wisdomm lists a dozen or more potential Platner replacements, but a problem is that nearly all of them, like former Gov Janet Mills, have already lost in recent Democrat primaries, either for governor or the Senate nomination that Platner won last month. There are other questioms about numbers. This piece, written just before Platner dropped out, asks:

In her 2020 election, Susan Collins got 417,645 votes (51%), while her Democrat opponent, Sara Gideon, got 347,223 (42.4%). In the Democratic primary that year, Gideon got 116,264 votes, which was 71.5% of the 162,681 ballots cast in the primary. Let’s compare the performance of Gideon to how Platner did in this year’s Democratic primary: 154,084 votes (72.1%) — about 38,000 more votes. But if Collins once again tops 400,000 votes in the November election, where’s Platner going to come up with the extra 250,000 votes he’ll need to beat her?

A Platner replacement won't have the Platner glitz, while former Platner voters may not have the same enthusiasm for someone not specifically aligned with the DSA.