… A new Susan Collins campaign ad that includes this line on Troy Jackson is being blasted as elitist and out of touch with ME voters, many of whom are blue collar and rural. Bill Green, a local news anchor, narrated it: “I also know Troy Jackson. But we’re not talking about buying a cord of wood here. We’re sending someone to the US Senate, and Troy doesn’t have the tools he needs to be effective.”
… The ad essentially says that the 5th generation logger and former state senate president is unqualified to do more than sell people firewood.
… Former Susan Collins staffer and conservative Maine Wire editor Sam Patten: “I didn’t believe this ad was real. Why does it matter? For more than 30 years, Susan Collins has carefully concealed her intrinsic arrogance because she’s very smart and she knows that in ME politics that would be fatal. With this ad, she gave that act up. The race is over.”
… Former ME congressional candidate Jordan Wood: “Bill Green’s latest ad for Susan Collins made my jaw drop. A pathetic end to both of their careers. Mainers will reject these despicable attacks next Tuesday.”
… AFL-CIO of Maine: “Susan Collins has spent so much time in Washington she thinks working-class Mainers are beneath her. We don’t need anymore millionaires in Congress. Troy Jackson is a true blue collar Mainer who will put working people first!”
… Troy Jackson to Ben Meiselas:
“Just another day for me being a working class person. It's not the first time I've had someone that thought they were better than me talk down to me, and it’s something Collins has been doing to me throughout this campaign.
But it is kind of funny though because this election actually it IS about a cord of wood. Right now, because of her and Trump, people can't afford to heat their homes. Yeah, I do know how to buy a cord of wood. I know how much it costs, and I know how to use it to heat your home.
So I just find it so ironic that this is what she chose to use because right now it is about people who know how to buy a cord of wood. I spent 20 years in the state legislature helping people. So it is time to have a working-class person that knows how to buy a cord of wood in the US Senate.”
… Ohio’s largest newspaper, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, abandoned its policy against gubernatorial endorsements to back Democrat Amy Acton:
“There are moments when a community must decide what it stands for, when its institutions have a duty to speak and when silence itself becomes a statement. OH has reached such a moment.
Vivek Ramaswamy, seeking the highest office in this state, has produced a campaign ad that weaponizes the sexual abuse his opponent, Amy Acton, suffered as a child. People across the political spectrum have rightly condemned it.
But condemnation has to mean something. Our politics have been debased for a decade, but this we will not accept. A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party.
We are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it. Today, we endorse Amy Acton for governor. And our endorsement of Acton rests on more than Ramaswamy’s failure to meet a basic standard of decency. She has earned consideration on her own record, her preparation and her commitment to the people she seeks to serve.
For the better part of two years, Acton has traveled OH, meeting with people in small groups. Rural OH. Urban OH. Communities in between. Places where Democrats can expect a welcome and places where they must work hard to earn a hearing. She has kept showing up.
Ramaswamy has offered Ohioans far less reason to trust him. He has focused much of his attention on wealthy donors while steadfastly refusing to explain what he would do about many of the issues he would face as governor. When our readers identified the questions they wanted answered, we devoted a 15-part series to seeking those answers. Acton participated. Ramaswamy refused.
Those were Ohioans asking about OH’s future. Someone seeking the authority to govern them owed them answers. He also moved his business out of OH, to TX. For a candidate asking voters to entrust him with this state’s future, that was an extraordinary demonstration of his own lack of faith in it.
Trump’s endorsement cannot substitute for accountability, preparation or judgment. And Ramaswamy’s decision to release this vile ad reveals a failure of judgment that OH cannot afford in its governor.”
… Kansas City Star reporter David Hudnall: “I spent 3 days last week in Roger Marshall’s longtime home of Great Bend. I talked to women whose babies he delivered, people who’ve known him 30 years, Dems, Republicans, a guy Marshall once tried to talk into buying a bird dog from his litter.
… Marshall has found himself in an unexpectedly close race to retain his US Senate seat in KS against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, a Methodist megachurch minister. I had come out to see what Marshall’s support looked like in the area where he’d built his professional career as a doctor and lived for some 30 years.
… I eventually fell into a conversation with a retired Farmers Bank and Trust banker named Craig Neeland. He’d known Marshall for decades. ‘I was Roger’s loan officer,’ Neeland said. Neeland voted for Marshall when he ran for Congress in 2016, and again when he ran for the Senate 4 years later. But he won’t be voting for him this Nov.”
… Neeland: “He gives Trump free rein every time. I voted for him to represent KS, not Trump.” Neeland was particularly bothered by Trump’s recent attempt to collect $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to settle a lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax records. “Not a single representative from KS stood up and said, ‘You’re trying to rob the bank.’”
… Great Bend Mayor Alan Moeder was asked how residents felt about Marshall. He said he hadn’t seen him since he was elected to the Senate: “Look, it’s quite obvious he doesn’t live here anymore. He lives in FL. He has a little hunting lodge in Stafford County. And I think that’s an issue for people, from what I hear. He’s become disconnected with a lot of people around here.”
… Herb Phillips, a retired Republican who ran a trash collection company in Great Bend for many years, said Marshall was one of his customers. He carried an old grudge relating to Marshall once trying to overcharge him for a bird dog: “He’s always just been kind of a dick.”
… Republican pollster Matt Towery:
“As we look at early voting it is becoming clear that a certain portion of the GOP base is not planning on voting. The GOP message in terms of paid ads has failed to explain why action on Iran was needed and what the consequences of a nuclear Iran would be. It is the ‘elephant in the room’ that must be addressed big time as the closing message. We have too many polls in too many states with Democrats leading and the GOP is running out of time.”
… Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) denounced Trump’s support of Sen. Darlene Graham to CNN:
“The voters in SC are not buying the argument that everyone has to ‘settle’ for a candidate that has been propped up by special interest groups and a Republican president spending millions of dollars spreading false narratives about why Darline Graham is qualified to be elected to the US Senate for the next 6 years.”
“This election is about attempts to ‘force’ a candidate on the voters of SC. And regardless of the outcome, it didn’t have to be this way as the great people living in SC deserve ‘better!’ Bottom line! Elections have consequences!”
… Fox has shifted 19 more races in favor of Democrats.
… Fox News ratings change:
US Senate
Ohio: Toss-up —> Lean D
South Carolina: Likely R —> Lean R
Mississippi: Solid R —> Likely R
——
US Governor
Ohio: Toss-up —> Lean D
… Cook Political Report ratings change:
Kansas Governor:
Lean R —> Toss-up
——
Nebraska Governor:
Likely R —> Lean R
… Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball ratings change:
US Senate:
Florida: Safe R —> Likely R
North Carolina: Lean D —> Likely D
South Carolina: Likely R —> Lean R
——
US Governor:
Arizona: Lean D —> Likely D
Vermont: Likely R —> Lean R
Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my weekly podcast Uncovered on Wednesdays, where we do a deep dive into the top stories of the week.
We are now one week out from the massively important midterms. I posted on Twitter two days before the 2020 election that Trump was not going to accept the results and we were heading for a big drama, and I think the same on a smaller scale now.
I think that Trump is going to claim that elections were rigged and is likely to use DOJ and DHS in some way to contest results. So I don’t think all of this will be over when the votes are counted. But I also don’t think he will be quite as manic as 2020 since that election directly involved him.
As someone who predicted violence in DC on social media in the days leading up to J6, I just believe his attempt to delegitimize the election this time will be less virulent and at some point he will revert to just blaming on Republicans who didn’t listen to him and didn’t use him in their ads.
Also a reminder that for 6 weeks leading up to the midterms we made all our content available to free subscribers. After that we will revert back to the policy where about the first third of these will be available to free subscribers. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. If you missed Ask the Editor show, that is here.
… Democratic congressional nominee Rebecca Cooke to Ben Meiselas on her opponent Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI): “He’s gotten drunk in his official office, yelled at Senate pages, carried a loaded gun through TSA. I mean, he’s really out there.”
… A protester loudly interrupted Trump’s rally in MS, which was picked up on the audio feeds from various media outlets: “Hey, bone spurs! Release the Epstein Files!