LAST WEDNESDAY, in an interview with Fox News, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) accused her Democratic challenger, former state Senate President Troy Jackson, of being soft on crime.
asserted
Collins → accuse → crime
She warned viewers that months earlier, Jackson had “welcomed the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America” while running in the Democratic primary for governor.
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Jackson → warn → governor
Then, in a Thursday-night debate aired on Maine’s PBS stations, Collins didn’t breathe a word about the DSA.
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Collins → air → DSA
Instead, she distanced herself from Donald Trump’s policies.
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she → distance → policies
Emphasizing her clout as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she claimed that she had used that position—along with her access to administration officials—to compensate Mainers for some of the costs imposed by the president.
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she → emphasize → president
And, suddenly, she was back to fretting about socialism.
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she → fret → socialism
“It’s interesting to me that Bernie Sanders has been to Maine to campaign with [Jackson].
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Sanders → ’ → Jackson
Elizabeth Warren’s coming this week.
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Warren → come → ?
AOC is coming next week.
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AOC → come → ?
I think that tells you a lot about where Troy Jackson stands,” the senator told Sean Hannity.
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senator → think → Hannity
She concluded that Jackson had “gone far left on a lot of issues.”
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Jackson → conclude → issues
To Trump voters, her message is that she’ll stand up to the left.
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she → stand → left
To everyone else, her message is: If you’re unhappy with Trump and the GOP, only Susan Collins—by being powerful, and being a Republican—can reduce your suffering.
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Collins → ’re → suffering
It’s a bleak pitch.
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It → ’ → ?
Collins essentially concedes that the pain inflicted by her own party will go on, and that all she can do is lessen it.
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she → concede → it
The question her candidacy presents to Mainers is whether they’ll settle for that grim bargain, or whether they’ll give her seat to a party that will take on Trump for real.
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that → present → Trump
DEMOCRATS HAVE TRIED TO UNSEAT Collins for many cycles.
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DEMOCRATS → try → cycles
They’ve always come up short.
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They → come → ?
That’s because her formula—presenting herself as a moderate lawmaker who delivers for her constituents—has proved persuasive to Maine’s voters.
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who → ’ → voters
But this time, her shtick about legislative efficacy might be overwhelmed by voters’ anger at Trump.
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shtick → overwhelm → Trump
At a minimum, his destructive presidency has prompted far greater scrutiny of her go-along-to-get-along approach.
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presidency → prompt → approach
In recent months, Collins has given three interviews that illustrate how she thinks about her job.
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she → give → job
In June, Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked her about her three decades in the Senate.
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MacCallum → ask → Senate
“In 1996, you said you would only run for two terms,” MacCallum noted.
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MacCallum → say → terms
“And yet now you’re running again [for a sixth term].
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you → run → term
And did that break a promise that you once made?”
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you → break → that
Collins said she had changed her mind and decided to stay when she realized how much power she could accumulate.
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she → say → power
“I underestimated how much seniority, experience, and knowledge matters in the Senate,” she told MacCallum.
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she → underestimate → MacCallum
“When I look at what I could do as a freshman senator, versus what I can do as chair of the Appropriations Committee, the most powerful committee in the Senate, there’s a huge difference.
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I → look → Senate
But what has Collins done with that power?
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Collins → do → power
In April, at a forum hosted by Semafor, she bragged about
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she → host → story
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you → get → Longwell
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