GOP Senator Susan Collins Has An Official Dem Challenger

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/08/gop_senator_susan_collins_has_an_official_dem_challenger">GOP Senator Susan Collins Has An Official Dem Challenger

Looks like GOP Senator Susan Collins, a top target for Senate Dems in 2008, officially has a challenger. From WCSH-TV in Portland:


Allen's campaign web site is here.

It should also be pointed out that pressure of this sort on vulnerable Senate GOPers is just the thing the Dem Congress needs to peel off Republicans and turn them against the war. In other words, Allen's entry is fortuitous timing for Congressional Dems.

Allen, a former Rhodes scholar who studied at Oxford with Bill Clinton, is a former Portland mayor who lost in a five-way primary for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1994. He was first elected to the House two years later and has won re-election easily ever since.

His plans this year became evident early on. Already, at least four Democrats have signaled their intentions to run for his House seat.

Democrats are taking heart from last November’s defeat of Chafee, one of the dwindling corps of GOP moderates. Like Collins, he was popular and had high approval ratings, noted Allen’s campaign manager, Valerie Martin.

The Collins camp says the senator’s centrist position and willingness to cross party lines present a clear contrast to Allen’s more partisan approach.

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