Me, senator?

I am a moderate liberal from Maine. I’ve been disappointed by Susan Collins, the current Senator running for reelection, because of her votes to confirm dubiously qualified Supreme Court Justices and for RFK, Jr, an idiot, for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

I have never sexually assaulted anyone.

I’ve been happily married to the same woman for 36 years. We are a model couple with no scandals to hide. (Yes, my lawn is a little shabby, but that doesn’t count.)

I follow politics closely and have written about it, including op-eds in major newspapers.

I’m relatively intelligent, the author of five books, with three years of graduate study in the Ph.D. math program at MIT.

I have a modest following because of my writing.

And I am not throwing my hat in the ring as a Senatorial candidate to replace the candidate who just dropped out, Graham Platner. I’m not qualified.

Don’t vote for these people, either

Heather Cox Richardson is a highly insightful and hardworking historian from Maine, a woman I admire. She’s not qualified to be senator (and she said so).

Stephen King is a very talented and insightful writer and perhaps the most famous person from Maine. He’s a self-made rich person. He’s not qualified to be a senator, either, despite his familiarity with existential horror.

Patrick Dempsey is a good-looking actor, philanthropist, and racecar driver from Maine. He’s not qualified to be a senator, and has rejected calls to run.

We Americans have lots of experience now with unqualified celebrities, football coaches, reality TV stars, authors, and talk-show hosts in government. It rarely turns out well.

There may be less than a million registered voters up here, but most of us aren’t idiots. I’d like to vote for someone who shares most of my political views and has some experience getting things done in government. We’ve heard of Heather Cox Richardson, Stephen King, and Patrick Dempsey, just as you have. That’s not enough. We’d like someone better.

The person who gets the Democratic nomination is going to be someone you hadn’t heard of before last week. But we know these folks (some of the best ran for governor in the last primary). We’ll pick someone appropriate who knows what Mainers want and doesn’t have scandalous tattoos or behavioral baggage to worry about.

So butt out.