Maine

Republicans in Maine did a lot of losing yesterday. Eric Brakey tried taking out Angus King and got 35.2% of the vote for his effort. Chellie Pingree was reelected to the House with 58.9% of the vote. Republican Mark Holbrook took just under a third of the vote-- 106,750 (32.3%).

Click to enlargeby Gaius PubliusIn England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure.—James Madison, on why a Senate is needed to counterbalance the majoritarian HouseMinority rule occurs in a political system when a small group of citizens is able to force its will on the large group of which it is a part.

Ted Cruz never hesitated or thought twice about his vote for Brett Kavanaugh. He fund-raised off it. It's who he is, who he's always been and will always be. Yesterday, after the 50-48 vote roll call, Beto send a note to Texas voters saying, clearly: "Today, the Senate voted on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. If I were in the Senate, I would have voted no.

Playin' the long gamePeople who looked at Kavanaugh's calendar and thought that the July 1, 1982 reference to "heading over for 'Skis' was about 'Brewskis,' are unaware that in '80s prep schools for rich white kids, 'skis' was cocaine, not beer. Just sayin'.

Lab-grown mini-brains, game-changing coffee deals and the devastating Brazilian museum fire + this day in history w/Squeaky Fromme's assassination attempt and our song of the day by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson & Merle Haggard on your Morning Monarchy for September 5, 2018.

It was embarrassing for Congressman Bruce Poliquin (R) when Maine's Republican senior Senator, Susan Collins, decided to stand up to DC party leaders who wanted to destroy MaineCare (the local version of Medicaid). Poliquin voted "yes" and Collins voted "no." It failed and Mainers were grateful that Collins had the balls Poliquin lacks.

Trump rubber stamp Bruce Poliquin wants to take away Mainers' healthcare... and pretend it's the DemocratsThis morning I was on the phone with Mike Siegel, the Blue America-endorsed candidate in a gerrymandered Texas district (TX-10) that goes from north Austin all the way through Weimar, Brenham, Columbus and Prairie View into Cypress and Tomball in the exurbs northwest of Houston. He had just gotten back his new polling and it was the best yet.

My friend John is from Lewiston in Maine's second district, aka- the other Maine district. The first district-- Portland, Augusta, Kennebunkport and the wealthy towns in York and Cumberland counties-- is thriving. But huge, sparely populated, rural ME-02 isn't. The Republican congressman in ME-02, Bruce Poliquin, is a Trump enabler and a Wall Street puppet. He's thriving.

I've been holding this little clip for the appropriate moment. Trumpanzee's insane tweet yesterday is certainly the appropriate moment, wouldn't you say? Is he a standup comedian? Did Melania grab his cell and decide to make a fool of him? We'll never know. But he does seem to be setting the scene and making excuses in advance for Kremlin interference, once again, on behalf of the supine Republican Party. Who will believe him?

Maine's second congressional district isn't white collar Portland or ritzy Kennebunkport. All 10 of Maine's wealthiest towns are in York and Cumberland counties, part of ME-01. Meanwhile ME-02 is an all-American blue collar district. And it's a swing district that Obama won by about 10 points both times he ran but that Hillary lost by about 10 points to Trump. The Democratic establishment was looking for a Blue Dog to run, a Republican-lite character who would sound like a less extreme version of the current congressman, Trump enabler Bruce Poliquin.