General Discussion

Graham Platner decisively won the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Senate today — which will come as a shock to many in Washington media. They’ve spent the last several weeks treating his candidacy as a doom spiral to be gawked at rather than a campaign to be covered.

The clearest sign of how badly the capital wanted him gone wasn’t any single hit piece. It was the life raft the press kept throwing to Janet Mills. The 78-year-old governor, originally recruited into the Senate race by Chuck Schumer to block a fresh face from emerging, suspended her campaign back in April once the polls made clear Platner would beat her by a humiliating margin.

Mills never formally withdrew, so her name stayed on the ballot — which gave a certain class of pundit an opening. Right up until the polls closed, they kept musing that maybe, just maybe, voters would come to their senses and reject Graham "string of controversies" Platner. You know — the tattoo, the PTSD, the sexting, the threats. His real sin was failing to impress the elite, which in very independent Maine only helps him.

Washington focused on scandal because on the issues, it has nothing to say. "We're just reporting the facts," the media tells itself. But by ignoring Platner's policy views — and what Mainers actually want — it tipped its hand. Its conclusion is that the electorate can't be trusted, which is why the party keeps offering up experience and credentials (Mills, Cuomo, Biden, etc.) to keep voters from getting too uppity.