An MS NOW panel on "Morning Joe" marveled over a highly controversial ad by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), in which she recruited a local news anchor to say that Democratic opponent Troy Jackson essentially had too working-class of a background to be a senator.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said that she can’t imagine how the ad got past vetting, saying one line could do real damage to the Maine senator.
McCaskill said the line about buying “a cord of wood” is “making fun of his working class roots,” which appears to refer to Collins’ Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson. More importantly, she said, it makes fun of the people who sell cords of wood across Maine. “Everybody buys wood in Maine,” she said, and a panelist added that it implicates the state’s logging industry.
She added that the ad is “one of these moments” in campaigns where a candidate gets “divided from the campaign apparatus.” She suggested the campaign focused on the supporter who delivered well to camera and praised Collins, and didn’t notice the line. “That line is what’s going to stick,” she said. “And it may be that line that beats her.”
Anchor Joe Scarborough, in reply, said Collins is lined up with “Elon Musk, a trillionaire who’s dumping money into the state” and Leonard Leo, whom he said “controls like $1 billion.” He said those special interests are “using the money to make fun of working Mainers who sell wood.”