Susan Collins had the best non-election year quarter in her career, raising $1.8 million in Q4 2018. For the over-$200 donations (the ones that are tracked by address) $900K of that was from out-of-state donations, and $19K was from Mainers.
Collins was the target of a fundraising effort for her opponent that raised $3.5 million if she voted for Kavanaugh. She called that campaign “bribery” and “extortion” at the time.
So if a bunch of MAGAs send you money for voting for a sexual predator, I guess that’s a good thing? Otherwise, extortion.
This is going to be an interesting race to watch, because it’s a probable turnover in a small state with a cheap media market. At some point, Collins and her challenger will have more money than they can possibly spend to good effect. And still, they’ll both probably get more money. How much is enough? When do you stop giving in these races, and push the money to longer shots with less cash?
Mike in NC
$900K in out of state Dark Money. Ought to be a law against this stuff. Too bad we have a corrupt Supreme Court.
piratedan
saw an article last night where Martha McSally (R- AZ) was already under investigation due to illegal campaign donations from her unsuccessful Senate run last year. Supposedly people donated waaay too much money personally instead of funneling it thru the tried and true dark money PAC’s. You would think that as important as a Senate seat is, that someone could have hooked her up with a proper money launderer to prevent this kind of scrutiny…. christ these guys can’t even do corruption right.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
There’s a commercial right there, but who’s the candidate who can use it?
There was a clip going around during the Kavanaugh mess, of Collins in ’96 vowing to only serve two terms in the Senate. In 2020, she’ll be going for her fifth. I don’t know if people really care about that, but if things start to go against her, it could be more straw on the camel’s back
Raoul Paste
So ~98% of the money is from out-of-state.
Her opponent’s campaign commercial writes itself.
Jeffro
@Mike in NC: AMEN. I see Adelson is giving $500k to trumpov’s Russia legal defense fund too. Hey Dems, I think I see a major strategy need here…
Jeffro
Also, OT but serious-like-deadly-serious: trumpov’s pissy at his intelligence chiefs for discussing actual facts so he is canceling his intelligence briefings.
In any other timeline…
Jeffro
@Raoul Paste: That’s a good point…all the money in the world can come in from out of state, but the votes and voters can’t. C’mon Mainers! (Mainians?)
Jeffro
SFAW
@Jeffro:
Maineiacs, actually. [I’m not sure there’s an accepted “name” for Massholes who move to Maine. Well, outside of “Massholes,” that is.]
ETA: “Mainiacs” may also be acceptable.
Skepticat
@Jeffro:
We’re Mainiacs—in more ways than one. I can’t wait to find out who’ll run again Collins; I’ve already been donating to whoever it is. She’s. Got. To. Go.
Gravenstone
@Raoul Paste: Not if said opponent partakes of the anti-Kavanaugh vote money that was raised. If they do, then they’ll rightfully be called hypocritical.
JanieM
@Raoul Paste:
Not likely, since her opponent is going to have a ton out out-of-state money as well. Jared Golden had (as of the last #s I saw) a higher out-of-state % of contributions than Poliquin in the district 2 race. Mainers who say that everyone who wasn’t born here is “from away” may get upset about that; screw them.
When someone around me gets worried that she’ll win again, I tell them half the BJ commentariat is coming to Maine to work for her opponent. You are, right….?
captnkurt
Mistermix, you made my day with a Kirsty MacColl musical reference.
The way she died still pisses me off. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsty_MacColl#Death)
Kay
I would never do this, BTW. I know the person behind the counter doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Schultz and retail is horrible enough without bothering them with my personal loathing of their leader :)
Don’t punch down.
Citizen Alan
@Jeffro:
You know every Bernie Bro who reads that is going to utterly flip out over.
“YOU SEE! YOU SEE! IT’S A NEO-LIBERAL CONSPIRACY!”
[Individual 1] mistermix
@JanieM:
This.
Competitive Senate races are all going to be nationalized in 2020 and onward. Especially in states where there’s a flip possible.
[Individual 1] mistermix
@captnkurt: No le gusta caminar No puede montar a caballo
The Midnight Lurker
We need stronger campaign finance laws! Oh, wait…
P.S. – Dear Supreme Court Justice John Roberts… this is your fucking mess! Good luck with that whole ‘legacy’ thing.
daveNYC
@Mike in NC: If you look at the filing, It’s actually not all dark money. http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/362/201901309144203362/201901309144203362.pdf
This is good news though. If Maineiacs won’t donate to her, hopefully they won’t vote for her.
Yarrow
Susan Collins tried her coy act again with her “I’m not ready to say I’m going to support Trump in 2020” comments. Seemed like it didn’t work all that well this time. People are just rolling their eyes at her. Sure, Susan. You’re not going to support Trump. Riiiiiight.
ixnay
I believe “Maine-uh” or “Maine-ah” depending on your accent. Then again, “Numb fck’n dubbah” works as well.
JanieM
@daveNYC: One thing I wonder is this: the over-$200 contributions make up about half the total mentioned in the OP. I wonder what percentage of the smaller contributions were from in-state; since Maine is a pretty poor state, it wouldn’t surprise me if the balance was different, i.e., Mainers would on average make smaller donations.
It doesn’t matter; it’s just curiosity from a numbers addict. I do hope you’re right, and that Mainers won’t giver her money AND won’t vote for her. Almost everyone I know is beyond furious with her over Kavanaugh, and so done with the phony moderate act. But then…..”everyone I know” constitutes kind of a bubble. ;-)
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
People can be REALLY mean to Starbucks employees. I’ve heard horror stories. And that was even before politics came into it.
kindness
When I lived back east the people I knew from Maine weren’t purposeful idiots. I really don’t understand the change but with Olympia Snow and now with Collins, Mainers seem to like to elect people who say nice things (not counting LePage). But really the electorate has changed. With Snow & Collins they keep voting for people who lied to their faces repeatedly and they still vote for ’em. The idea that liberals twice split their ticket and allowed LePage to govern for two terms tells me Mainers, God bless their hearts, have judgement issues I don’t get.
Aleta
From now on she’ll represent every bad ruling from the SC. The SC will be ruling against her claims about herself.
Elizabelle
@Kay:
Interesting that the Starbucks employees might be hearing more genuine political opinions than Schultz ever will, from his rarified perch.
And screw Steve Schmidt for advising him. He just devalued himself, in my eyes, anyway.
Anyway, be nice to the baristas. But I am done with Starbucks anything until Schultz gets his overmoneyed ass out of presidential politics.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kindness: one thing I’ve consistently read over the years is that Olympia Snowe had no rival when it came to constituent services, and Collins followed her model closely. Phone calls get returned and followed up. I’ve never had occasion to call my reps except about national issues, so it’s hard for me to imagine how this works, but it comes up a lot, especially in smaller states.
Anonymous At Work
This is Collins’ first serious re-election without Purity Progressive Pony vs. Democrat vs. her.
villiageidiocy
@[Individual 1] mistermix: That is such a great song. A warning though – don’t listen to Bette Midler’s version. stripped the sexy right out of it.
cmorenc
@Anonymous At Work:
There’s likely a Purity Progressive Pony somewhere in Maine who’s looking in the mirror and seeing the worthy true progressive the voters are hungering for unbeholden to either major party, unlike the too-tepid, too-compromised pretenders running as democrats. Some are pragmatic-minded enough to recognize they have too small a chance of winning to be worth risking splitting the vote and helping (re)elect a RW GOPer, but that sensibility is overridden in others by a delusion-inducing narcissistic savior complex. Take Howard Schultz, for example (except he sees himself as the worthy true independent moderate the voters are hungering for…).
Aleta
Re the quote at 14, the Sb company’s in-house message to workers. It’s also quite a skillful ‘share’ from the company to the public and ‘attempt to dissipate.’ And a good example of using the news media instead of ad money.
Important and (unfortunately) necessary message to us: “Don’t take it out on our workers.”
+ Distancing the brand from HS plans.
+ Where to buy his book.
While reenforcing their brand advertising: “warm and welcoming space” “all gather, as a community” “over great coffee.” Pro-democracy; the right to different opinions. All put into the frame of their theme of “we support our workers.”
Which are also themes HS is campaigning heavily on at the moment, using opinion writers and twitter and his bio. His story of how he invented (//) community space and drinking coffee while talking (//). His pushback on his right to run and love of democracy. His shot at claims to be pro-worker.
Skepticat
@JanieM:
Y’all can stay with me.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Past tense. I liked and respected Olympia and could tolerate Collins early on, but Collins no longer is responsive. And apparently people stopping by her offices see the staff saying they’ll pass on comments but writing nothing down.
For many years, Maine had an excellent, actually quite independent delegation for both House and Senate. Now, not so much. Sigh.
scotius
@cmorenc:
Maine has ranked choice voting now. You can vote your first preference for your pony and your second preference for a Democrat if you’d like.
Just don’t ask former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin how he feels about it. It might make him sad.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
Are you sure it’s not “Mainaises”? //
low-tech cyclist
When i look at a Dem candidate and think, “If s/he loses, it won’t be due to lack of money.”
I gave to plenty of candidates in 2017-18, but I didn’t give to Beto, I didn’t give to Ossoff, and I didn’t give to Hillary back in 2016. Can’t say exactly where I would draw the line, but the amounts they raised were well above it; they didn’t need me to jump on their bandwagon, but there were other candidates who did.
I particularly appreciated the recommendations for progressive candidates for state legislature, because a little bit goes a long way in those races.
Raoul
When do you stop giving in these races, and push the money to longer shots with less cash?
Almost immediately. I think I pitched in $20 for the Kavanaugh thing. That might be it.
Last cycle I gave to some big names like Beto. But I gave more — in aggregate — to a bunch of State House races, both in MN and around the country. People like Fentrice Driskill, a 39 y.o. black lawyer in Tampa who flipped a FL state house seat, and is now in office.
We need 100s more folks like her, nay thousands, from city halls to D.C., to win in 2020. Yes kicking the terrible Ms Collins out would be great. But lets not wildly overspend, it’s not strategic.