Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Maine Democrats to hold nominating convention after Platner exit

Transcript

Maine Democrats to hold nominating convention after Platner exit · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A quote. As an American, I condemn a Republican fascist
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: just as much as I condemn a Democrat communist. They're
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: equally dangerous to you and me and to our country.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: As an American, I want to see our nation recapture
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the strength and unity it once had when we fought
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the enemy instead of ourselves. Unquote those words spoken on
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the Senate floor June one, nineteen fifty by Maine Republican
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Senator Margaret Chase Smith, one of the most consequential women
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: in American politics. The speech was called Declaration of Conscience,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and it indirectly denounced the demagoguery that had come to
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: define Republican Senator Joe McCarthy's anti communist crusade. Jay Smith
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: acknowledged in her remarks that McCarthy's tactics were at that
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: time popular, but she warned of deeper dangers. I do
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: not want to see, Chase said, the Republican Party ride
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny, fear, ignorance, bigotry,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and smear. It was a brave speech, well ahead of
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: public sentiment, but vindicated four years later when the Senate
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: censured McCarthy. Chase Smith was the first woman ever to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: serve in the US House and US Senate, and the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: first woman to have her name placed a nomination for
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: president by a major party. That happened at the nineteen
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: sixty four Republican Convention. Here's the modern day tie in.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Republican Susan Collins occupies the Senate seat once held by
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Chase Smith. Until last night, Graham Platner was the Democratic
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: nominee seeking to unseat Collins. He exited the race after
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a credible allegation surfaced that he raped a former romantic partner.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Platner denied the accusation, but his political support or collapsed.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Last night. He released an exit video, and history will
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: not for one second compare it to Chase Smith's oratory.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: It's not the false allegations, though, that have brought us
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: to where we are. It's the fact that they are
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: on us. We live in a political system that is
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: not built for normal people. It is a system that
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: cannot flourish, that if they begin to succeed, they can
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: be crushed.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: To be clear, the system did not render Platner unelectable
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: his past conduct did Maine is Chase, Smith and Collins
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: make abundantly clear welcomes women in politics. Maine Democrats, searching
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: frantically right now for a nominee to replace Platner's seven candidates,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: including two women, have entered a mad dash process to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: produce a nominee by the states July twenty seventh deadline.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: What the state needs expressed and the immortal words of
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Bonnie Tyler, the bond that hero sentiment encapsulated in Tyler's
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four hit song she died unexpectedly. We are
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: sad to report, her family said in Portugal yesterday. Bonnie
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Tyler was seventy five on the hero Watch or heroin
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Watch for us in Maine, Caitlin Huey Burns HB take
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: it from there.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: What a lead in major I mean to continue the
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Bonnie Tyler lyrics. Total eclipse of the heart every now
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: and then I fallow up. That is pretty much what
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: the Democratic Party here in Maine is feeling right now.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: They are still in a state of chaos because Graham
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Platner announced he's suspending his campaign last night, but he
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: still hasn't officially filed the paperwork that he has to
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: put forward by Monday at five pm in order to
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: set off this new process. And we're told by sources
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: today that he actually told his staffers yesterday he's not
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: planning to file that paperwork until the very last minute
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: on Monday. So there's already anxiety within the Democratic Party
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: right now over what has happened, and now there is
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: a real mad dash to figure out a candidate to
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: replace him. And the State Democratic Party said yesterday they
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: are going to hold a nominating convention. They're not even
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: sure what that will look like right now. They're trying
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: to figure out the details of who's eligible, what is required,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: when exactly it will happen. Mark your calendars. July twenty
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: seventh is the date that the party has to pick
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: who will be the nominee and major We've been talking
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: to voters over the past few days here in May,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: many of whom were supportive of Platner originally, who are
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: wondering themselves what this will all look like and whether
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: in fact they can actually feeld a candidate who can
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: take on and defeat Susan Collins, who has had that seat,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: as you mentioned for thirty years. This is always was
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: always going to be an uphill battle for Democrats, just
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: given her long time incumbency of Collins, But they were
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: looking to tap into this populace, this restive base of
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: the Democratic Party that Platner had activated. So Democrats here
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: now are in a position where they're shunning Platner, he's
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: in their rear view, but they also need his voters,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: and so that is the needle that they are trying
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: to thread here. And you've already had a host of
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: candidates throw their names into the ring here, and the
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: question is whether they can translate the support for Platner
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: on policy into a winning campaign that can activate voters
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: and bring new voters into the fold that may not
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: have otherwise been engaged.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Kaylie Huey Burns coming to us from Portland, Maine. Thank
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: you so very much.