While the major media chews over campaign strategy and timing and what she shoulda woulda coulda done differently, here’s what actually happened: Americans didn’t want her, and they refused to budge. It’s an extraordinary victory of public will.
Mills was handpicked by Senate Leader Chuck Schumer himself. Party leadership saw her as their best shot at toppling Susan Collins — the only Republican senator from a state Kamala Harris won. Voters were endlessly browbeat about how inexperienced her primary opponent was, how this race was existential, how a vote against Mills was a vote for the political abyss.
There was a time when that kind of emotional blackmail worked. Not anymore.
Crossposted from https://news.abolish.capital/post/46384
Virtually every major outlet ran with Mills’ own “I ran out of funds” line — a verbal sleight of hand that makes it sound like a budgeting problem, like her campaign manager overdrew her checking account. None of them asked the obvious follow-up: why didn’t she have the money? That question doesn’t get asked because asking it puts voters at the center of the story instead of Washington donors and consultants.
This is a beautiful illustration of the problem with news media conventions (what I call Journalism 1.0), which hold that the reporter must quote what the official person said — even if it’s obvious bullshit.
But even in Journalism1.0 the reporter should then continue to probe and question these statements.
she got her CHECK from blocking datacenter moratium, and allowing at least one to be built in maine.
Good for Maine. Gives me some hope.
Maine somehow ended up choosing her and SUSAN collins. hope they dont make the same mistakes with Platner, because his views are a little wishy washy.
