Posted on 12/06/2017 3:59:08 PM PST by Hojczyk
Maine and the country have changed since King was last elected in 2012.
The obscure democrat running against King in 2012 didn’t do all that well....Maine democrats gravitated to the better known King, who was just as liberal.
As for LePage, he did better than expected in the liberal Portland area when he ran for re-election in 2014.
Maine has been trending red in recent years, so LePage definitely has a chance against King should he, LePage, run in 2018 against King.
I’m not saying that LePage is a shoo-in for the Senate seat, but he would stand a better chance than any other Maine Republican, who aren’t all that well-known, even within the borders of Maine.
Actually 53%. And his opponents were the sitting Secretary of State and member of the legislature.
The better known Republican didn't fare much better. He still lost by 22 points in a three person race.
As for LePage, he did better than expected in the liberal Portland area when he ran for re-election in 2014.
But still managed only 48%. Absent the independent candidate then LePage would be a one term governor.
Maine has been trending red in recent years, so LePage definitely has a chance against King should he, LePage, run in 2018 against King.
Maine hasn't gone for the Republican in any presidential election since 1988. Even with as badly a flawed candidate as Clinton the Democrats took the state by 3 points.
I’m not saying that LePage is a shoo-in for the Senate seat, but he would stand a better chance than any other Maine Republican, who aren’t all that well-known, even within the borders of Maine.
That's damning him with faint praise. He might not get beaten as badly as past Republicans have been.
Better known...yes. Well known...no - and not helped much given the fact most of the advertising in support of his candidacy was negative against King and didn't get his name out there. But still managed only 48%. Absent the independent candidate then LePage would be a one term governor.
That's a bit of a stretch - the Democrat got 43% - some of the voters for the Independent would not have voted in the governor's race at all with him on the ballot, and even though the independent appears to be more to the left side of the isle LePage would have still gotten a handful of those remaining votes - which is all that would be needed to get to 50%, and the Democrat would have had to get virtually all of them. LePage had obviously already gotten a significant number of that independent's voters from the previous election - LePage significantly increased his voter support from the previous election. LePage got 38% in 2010 when he ran for his for first term and increased that support by 10 points to 48% in 2014. That doesn't support the argument that things were trending against him or Republicans in general.
Maine hasn't gone for the Republican in any presidential election since 1988. Even with as badly a flawed candidate as Clinton the Democrats took the state by 3 points.
His argument was that there are signs that it is trending Republican - with Trump winning an electoral vote from Maine for the first time since 1988 that supports his argument.
That's damning him with faint praise. He might not get beaten as badly as past Republicans have been.
I'm not sure what you mean by this...granted, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are hardly anything to celebrate, but they are still "Republicans" on the ballot and with them the GOP held both Senate seats for a long period of time until Snowe elected not to run for re-election, allowing King in. They normally won in massive landslides. Collins was most recently re-elected with over 68% of the vote in 2014.
In any event, King is for some reason popular which is why LePage probably will not try to run. There would have to be a top-tier Democrat that gets into the race to split the vote in order to cut into King's support which will not happen since King caucuses with the Democrats.
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