Tonight I went to a fundraiser for Graham Platner, the unconventional candidate running for the U.S. Senate from Maine. First he has to get past current Maine governor Janet Mills (age 78) in the primary, then gold-medalist concern troll Susan Collins in the general. A poll today has him ahead of both by double digits.

Platner has charisma. He was a Marine non-com, with some of the mien and voice (deep, a little rumbly) that you’d expect. On the other hand, he used to sing in community theatre musicals, which is why he thinks he doesn’t get nervous speaking to crowds. Of course, he was facing a very friendly audience. He’s a long-time Berniecrat, in a rural area that’s usual hostile to Democrats (although his parents were Democrats). He explained how an economic populist message will win, focusing on how the working class has not shared in recent economic gains. Basically, he has the education and worldliness that most of his peers lack to reject voting MAGA out of mere resentment. He says that he has a larger volunteer network, per capita, than Zohran Mamdani did. He also mentioned that, like Mamdani, the Democratic establishment had its heart set on another candidate, which Platner attributed in considerable part to the malign influence of money on elections and the accommodations the DSCC and other D.C. Dems make to obtain it.

Platner is outraising Mills 2 to 1, but Collins will be getting massive PAC money. I don’t know if Platner will need it, though. I think all the Democratic Senate candidates will have deep pockets.