Possibility of beating Susan Collins officially reopens

For anyone concerned that Platner was going to continue to play games with this, he finally filed the paperwork:

Graham Platner officially withdrew his candidacy for Senate on Friday, according to Maine’s Secretary of State.

That office announced in a news release that it received a letter from the former Democratic nominee, a step required to formally withdraw his candidacy. The news comes two days after Platner publicly announced in an 11-minute video that he was suspending his campaign operations following an allegation of sexual assault, which he denied.

In a copy of the letter posted to social media, Platner cast his campaign as representative of “a new kind of politics” and the fact that “people are desperate for change.” 

This is better than the disgraceful video he issued earlier in the week, and hopefully he won’t be a problem going forward. And let’s be clear: he wasn’t the victim of a ratfucking, his problems were entirely of his own making.

There’s no ideal way of replacing someone who leaves under these circumstances, but the late July convention seems like the best available option. All of the candidates who have announced seem like plausible candidates to beat Collins, and hopefully the delegates will identify the best one.