Liberal darling Chellie Pingree won’t run for Snowe’s seat

[jefferson_dem]

Liberal darling Chellie Pingree won’t run for Snowe’s seat
By Greg Sargent

In a move that could complicate the Democratic Party’s efforts to hold the Senate, Dem Rep. Chellie Pingree — a favorite of national liberals and progressives — has decided not to run for the seat of retiring Olympia Snowe, a Democrat familiar with her thinking tells me.

The decision will disappoint national liberal groups who had mounted a campaign to draft her for the race. Pingree is seen by liberals as an unabashed defender of progressive principles — she has been an aggressive advocate for the public option and for marriage equality, and has crusaded against corporate money in politics. Installing her in Snowe’s seat would have been a major coup for the left, which is perpetually looking for progressive voices to counterbalance “moderate” Dems that are often too politically skittish to embrace the liberal/Dem agenda.

But Pingree, after looking closely at her chances, determined that entering the race could pose too great a risk to Dem chances of holding the Senate, the Democrat familiar with her thinking tells me. Pingree did see a path to winning, and passing on the race cut against her competitive nature. But the entry of independent former governor Angus King would have meant they’d compete for many of the same voters, making a Republican victory more likely — a risk she was not prepared to take, the Democrat says.

“From the data we’e seen, there is a big correlation between people who are likely to support Angus King and her base of support,” the Democrat says. A Public Policy Polling survey found that King would beat Pingree and Republican Charlie Summers in a three way race, and notably, 51 percent of King’s supporters would want him to caucus with Dems, versus only 25 percent who would want him to caucus with the GOP.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/liberal-darling-chellie-pingree-wont-run-for-snowes-seat/2012/03/07/gIQA89y2wR_blog.html

[magical thyme]

1. dam. oh well. the country's loss

is my gain. I love my rep. Maybe when Collins gives it up....

[Walk away]

2. Too bad but she's right.

King was a Liberal Democrat before he ran and won the Governorship. Except for one or two bad calls he still is a pretty straight forward Liberal. He would caucus with the Dems.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. I think a hard lesson was learned in the last gubernatorial election. I think it will

be a while before we see any serious 3-(or more)-way races again. It's just too bad we don't have some sort of ranked voting in place.