Maine

Let me start by saying that Blue America is backing Shenna Bellows for the Maine Senate seat currently occupied by conservative Republican Susan Collins. We are raising money for her and helping her connect to like-minded voters in Maine.

Politics isn't something polite people people discuss at dinner, especially not with strangers. Not since high school when the class year book referred to me as gallant, has anyone accused me of being polite. The first day of my Galapagos cruise a few weeks ago, we hadn't even boarded the ship yet when I ferreted out that one of my fellow passengers was not just a Republican from Chicago, but a Republican from Chicago enamored of Rahm Emanuel!

Fred Upton sold out his Michigan constituents to the drug companies long agoI spent the holiday season on a ship cruising around the Galapagos, going from island to island. One day the highlight was seeing a sea lion give birth to her first pup and the next was watching an aquatic iguana rape a female iguana. Another day we saw parent frigates take turns caring for their chick while the other one hunted. The Ecuadorean naturalists helped us put the experiences into context.

Polling indicates that Ted Cruz would be the easiest Republican for a Democratic presidential nominee to beat in 2016. That may be because he's the most extreme and radical right-winger the GOP has ever come close to nominating, or it might just be because the polls are measuring a lack of name recognition. But there is no lack of name recognition on the far right fringes.

That brand new video above is a bit of a biography of the candidate Blue America endorsed for the Maine Senate seat, Shenna Bellows. She's running against Susan Collins, a DC-oriented career-politician who is often mischaracterized by the media as a "moderate." And while she may be moderate compared to crackpots like Ted Cruz of Texas and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama, she's pretty far right for a Maine politician. And she consistently votes with Cruz and Sessions over 90% of the time.

Since taking over from Tim Sebastian in 2006, Stephen Sackur has been the anchor for the BBC's flagship news interview show, HARDtalk, which runs four times a week. I travel a lot, so I see it a lot. Sackur has a well-deserved reputation as the voice of Establishment Group Think propaganda and for asking questions and then aggressively interrupting his guests when they attempt to answer. He's one of television's most annoying little twits and I often wonder why credible figures ever agree to be interviewed by him. Last week, he interviewed Glenn Greenwald.

I hope you saw the Blue America e-mail about Maine senatorial candidate Shenna Bellows yesterday. She's the former ACLU executive director who's taking on Susan Collins this cycle. Although Collins is an old fashioned mainstream conservative, who nonetheless backs her reactionary colleagues nearly all the time, the media just delights in terming her a "moderate." Just like Chris Christie.

The new letter to Blue America members earlier today is all about electing a progressive U.S. Senator in Maine, Shenna Bellows. If you contribute to Shenna, or any Blue America candidate-- any amount-- you'll be a member too… and you'll get the e-mail blasts long before they're up on our blogs.

Maine Blue Dog Mike Michaud was never like the other Blue Dogs. He was always the one Blue Dog that didn't seem to belong in the hate-filled, bigoted pack of mostly Confederate reactionaries.

Both of Maine's congressmembers are Democrats-- and one, Chellie Pingree, is a strong progressive leader. Last year Obama beat Romney 401,306 (56%) to 292,276 (41%) in the state. And the Democrats regained control over both Houses of the state legislature. Still, the DSCC is reluctant to take on Senator Susan Collins.