Lamont's victory in the primary made other Democratic candidates feel safe voicing a strong antiwar message, and that led directly to the Democrats' retaking of Congress.

Lamont's loss in November was a failure of national Democrats, not the netroots, and unfortunately we are all now seeing what a disastrous mistake it was for them to support Lieberman.

Not sure, yet, Jim (although, Tom finally went over $20K on his combined  netroots support ActBlue page; which rocks--it's still a marathon, for sure)!

Email note ( contextually edited by me a bit) from Tom's IT person to me yesterday afternoon (alluding to "thanking joementum," and infusing some music favs of Tom's):

"We should send Joe a thank you card.  Here is a link to the
Crooks and Liars music video for Tom before the 6.09.07 FDL Blue America'08 chat.

You can probably reuse that since it is so fitting for Joe and Susan."

Jane Hamsher ran another thread for Tom last night...bless her heart.

Maine Dems (generally speaking) do NOT blog; so this never would've happened w/o the help of the progressive netroots...not a chance in hell.

I can only type so fast, folks; and KayInMaine was @work until late afternoon (we have to actually work for a living up here)....

People were asking me whether or not Tom as a DLC Bluedog whore (no, he isn't at all--I wouldn't lift a finger for him, if that was true); as well as where he stood on particular issues--no problemo in that regard!

Tom isn't a brash verbose egomaniac in the U.S. House; but he gets things done behind the scenes.

I am unsure, re: what percentage of Moveon.org's "take" went to Tom, Jim; however, anything is greatly appreciated (he'll be camped out up here in CD#2 quite a bit, where the voters are more conservative--even the Dems; and are unenrolled).

Collins also resides in Bangor; and her family/childhood folks are from Caribou (waaaaaaay up North in Aroostook County--he'll be stumping up there quite a bit w/Rep. Michaud (who is a Bluedog, FWIW).

Again--I'm not hearing anything in our MSM about either event (Maine folks never miss the local 6:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m.news (NBC, CBS, & ABC).

Thanks again, folks!

Fortunately, our Maine U.S. Senate races don't cost an ungodly fortune, as they do in larger states (and Collins's state party's coffers are already dead low/they're heavily factionalized).

Suzie-Q's D.C. Beltway fundraiser was supposed to garner approx. $3,000 per plate (150 people); but I haven't read how many actually attended the damned thang; or how much additional cash might have been bundled.

Dunno.

However, once it (ever) bubbles up in the MSM in Maine's newspapers & local TV stations; it's not gonna play well w/the elderly Maine voters (who represent the majority; and don't condone extravagance or wastefulness of any sort).

That's the part which will please me to no end.

However, she's desperately attempting to tout herself as that pesky "moderate" (bipartisan rif); as shrub's numbers up here are way below that of the nation's.

Considering 38% of Mainiacs subsist at, or below 300% FPL, we simply cannot "afford" shrub (and high gas prices for long commutes to work--factored in w/oil prices for older homes is royally pissing off the locals).

Even the Rockefeller Republican rednecks need to fill their pickups w/gas for the work week commute, folks (and can't deduct it, unless self-employed).

Those who work in the fisheries are really hurting, as their costs to run their boats is astronomical (vs. that of even last year).

Esp. in the 2nd CD, so I hope we can hold on long enough until '08--to stress the economic banalities (and malign Collins for rubberstamping shrub along the way).

Close proximity to Canada isn't helping her one iota; as thousands of Mainers have family, work, and shop along 3/4 of our border...Dept. of Homeland Insecurity is mucking things up in that regard--as well as tourism (each way).

Even the Rethug-laden Maine Chamber of Commerce is throwing a hissy fit, as it impacts their bottom lines--substantially.

Long lines & passports (esp. when on vacation) at border crossings isn't a picnic.

Hell, it wasn't long ago that vast swaths of what's now Maine was Canada.

What morons...it's the everyday hassles & messing w/people's personal lives (very libertarian/stubborn/private in nature up here) that will drag Collins down, re: her complicity w/joementum & the shrub regime.