From HILL REPORTER:
Whenever there is a close controversial vote, democrats normally hold out hope that Maine senator, Susan Collins, will vote with them. […] She broke liberal hearts, however, when she voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October of 2018.
That Kavanaugh vote, while it pleased the GOP, may have done the senator more harm than good. According to a new poll from Critical Insights, Collins’ Maine approval rating has dipped 17 points since last spring.
Original painting (Agreeable Burden by William-Adolphe Bouguereau)
When asked for reasons behind the fall, Critical Insights’ president, Bob Domine, said:
“If I had to speculate on a single factor underlying this slip in Collin’s approval rating, it would be her pivotal vote in Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court. Her approval was both strong and steady prior to her vote last fall, and it has continued to slip since then.”
Donald Trump is very unpopular in Collins’ home state of Maine. The president is currently polling at a 58% disapproval rating in the state compared to just a 34% approval rate.
It appears that Mainiacs (that’s what you call them, isn’t it?) aren’t opening up their pocketbooks to Suzie. From Roll Call:
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republican senators in 2020, raised more than $1.1 million in itemized contributions during the first three months of the year. But less than 1 percent of that money came from her home state.
Collins raised $9,200 from 17 itemized donations from Maine during the first three months of 2019. Those came from 15 Pine Tree State residents. Thirteen Mainers gave $200 or more this quarter, while two gave less than $200 this quarter but have given more than $200 to Collins in the aggregate.
By contrast, Collins raised $52,000 from 46 itemized Maine donations in the first three months of 2013, the last time she was running for re-election. Those donations represented 41 percent of her itemized donations.
…snip…
The downtick in Maine donors doesn’t, on its own, say much about Collins’ relative electoral strength or weakness heading into what’s likely to be her most competitive re-election. But it does signal that outside money will continue to flood the state as Maine occupies a spotlight in 2020.
The state will be home to a competitive Senate race and House race in the 2nd District, which President Donald Trump carried in 2016 and could contest again. (Maine splits its Electoral College votes by district.)
…snip…
Democrats, who don’t yet have a candidate in this race, will likely attack the four-term senator for being propped up by outside money. But their eventual nominee will be the beneficiary of a nearly $3.8 million and growing Crowdpac fund set up after Collins voted for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last year. Republicans are likely to point to the Crowdpac fund to argue that any Democratic challenger would be backed by liberal, out-of-state money.
Note: The Roll Call article is from April 9, 2019.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
I’m something of a fan of Bouguereau’s work and immediately thought the original for this must be something of his, even though it was a painting I hadn’t seen before. He had a preference for innocence and beauty, though, and would never have stooped to depict such raddled and corrupted beings as these two.
If Collins is finally going to pay a price for her vote for Boofy-Boy, that’s excellent news. Replacing her with a Democrat would be well worth doing. For all her hand-wringing, she almost never actually votes against the rest of her party, as Murkowski sometimes does.
So let the handbag remain empty, and the disagreeable burden grow ever heavier.
I must admit that I had never heard of Bouguereau before, and I am not quite sure how I stumbled upon this painting. I looked at some of this other work, and they are absolutely beautiful. I felt guilty defiling this one, but I got over it.
I like the quotation that FogCityJohn over at DailyKos found. This is what Harry Reid said about Collins: “She’s always there when you don’t need her.” Is that perfection, or what? I miss Harry.
I hope we can get a Democrat in her seat. I’ll even settle for another Independent, if s/he’s like Angus King.
May her burden be heavy and her pocketbook light. Amen.
i’m sorry but anyone who votes for brewski kavanaugh doesn’t deserve to be in the senate. end of story.
I can understand making a mistake once in a while or thinking that you are voting your conscience or upholding what your constituents wanted. In the case of Two-Faced Suzie, she is nothing more than Mitch McConnell’s trained seal. She does whatever he wants her to do. She sometimes gets a pass, but only when her vote doesn’t matter. Like I said above, Harry Reid said it perfectly: “She’s always there when you don’t need her.”
Oh how I hope she goes down in 2020! I’ve already donated to her unnamed, undetermined opponent. She is such a weeble. She wiggles and she wobbles and she won’t get down..
Elyse, I have missed you, my blog sistah! ❤
I hope the Dems find a really good candidate to run against her. I wonder if some right-winger might challenge her in a primary. That would be fun. She has a lot going against her. She's a shitty speaker. Who wants to listen to her giving speeches? Her previously lauded search for middle ground has now been unmasked as indecisiveness. She previously ran on her support for women and being pro-choice, but with the St. Brett the Virgin of Georgetown vote, that's just laughable. The same for LGBT rights. Plus, her husband is a stinking rich lobbyist. Not exactly the type people are clamoring for these days. What else does she have?
I do too! I spend a lot of time in Maine, and I’ve found her to be a total fraud for years. I was in Maine during the Kavanaugh hearings, and I called each and every one of her Maine offices from my land line THREE times a day. She didn’t listen. F-her!
I have been reading blogs, but I couldn’t comment. Hopefully I have solved the problem. 🤞
Glad that you are back, and I hope your computer woes are all in the past.
What do the people in Maine say about Suze? I bet they miss Olympia Snowe. She had more integrity in her little finger than Suze does in her entire body.
IDK what they are saying now. In the fall, they were pretty pissed.
Let’s hope they stay pissed.
Sigh….DSCC: gearing up to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again…
Hello Brucedesertrat,
Welcome to The Raisin! 😀
There are some Dems looking at the seat, I think they were waiting to see if Susan Rice was going to run. She said she wouldn’t, and now Sarah Gideon, the Speaker of the Maine State Legislature, is probably going to file when the legislative session ends on June 19th. Another possibility is Hannah Pingree, daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree. Hannah was a former House Majority Leader and Speaker for one term. She left because of term limits.
Hope you will drop by and comment again!
I haven’t been on WP since I’ve been without a computer. I took a lot of time getting one. I have missed reading your posts. This post is another priceless work of your art and humor. I dislike Collins and Kavanaugh. Without a doubt, neither of them possesses any redeemable qualities.
Hi Yvonne. How are you feeling? Did you have your surgery yet? I hope you are well and that everything went smoothly. You didn’t miss much here. As you can see, I haven’t been very productive lately. Glad to see you back! ❤
Thank you, Noonie. I am doing ok but the ablation was not done because a 5mmx5mm cyst was seen on the cusp of the right side of my aortic valve. It is called a fibroid erastoma which is benign. The MD told me that not much was known about it but that he and my regular cardio MD had decided it was safe to the procedure. It said it was controversial. I wanted to know more about it so I opted out of the procedure for now. I hope it
Thank you, I am ok, This computer is giving me fits and so I’ll try to write more in a comment as I try to find you post.