The Platner Post-Mortem: Rieckhoff Takes On the DNC Establishment
About this episode
Paul Rieckhoff and guests analyze the failures of Graham Platner's Senate campaign in Maine.
Paul Rieckhoff joins the roundtable to dissect the wreckage of Graham Platner's Maine Senate campaign — alongside Bangor Daily News political editor Michael Shepherd, former DNC chair Jaime Harrison, and Puck's Leigh Ann Caldwell. Paul called this one early: Platner was a ship with holes in it from the start, and progressives were so desperate for a gravelly-voiced tough guy that they were willing to ignore the Nazi tattoo, the Reddit posts, and a vetting operation that missed most of it. His bigger point — Maine is an independent-minded state with a Republican senator and an independent one, and the answer isn't another progressive heartthrob but a moderate bridge-builder who can reach the 300,000-plus independents who actually decide these races.
People in this episode
Host: Paul Rieckhoff
Guests: Michael Shepherd, Jaime Harrison, Leigh Ann Caldwell
Topics covered
- politics
- Senate campaign
- DNC establishment
- independent voters
- progressive politics
Keywords
- Graham Platner
- Maine Senate
- DNC
- progressives
- independent voters
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: DNC
Places: Maine, Bangor
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