Today in Politics, Bulletin 490. 10/27/26 Ron Filipkowski Oct 27 … A new Susan Collins campaign ad that includes this line on Troy Jackson is being blasted as elitist and out of touch with ME voters, many of whom are blue collar and rural. Bill Green, a local news anchor, narrated it: “I also know Troy Jackson. But we’re not talking about buying a cord of wood here. We’re sending someone to the US Senate, and Troy doesn’t have the tools he needs to be effective.” … The ad essentially says that the 5th generation logger and former state senate president is unqualified to do more than sell people firewood. … Former Susan Collins staffer and conservative Maine Wire editor Sam Patten: “I didn’t believe this ad was real. Why does it matter? For more than 30 years, Susan Collins has carefully concealed her intrinsic arrogance because she’s very smart and she knows that in ME politics that would be fatal. With this ad, she gave that act up. The race is over.” … Former ME congressional candidate Jordan Wood: “Bill Green’s latest ad for Susan Collins made my jaw drop. A pathetic end to both of their careers. Mainers will reject these despicable attacks next Tuesday.” … AFL-CIO of Maine: “Susan Collins has spent so much time in Washington she thinks working-class Mainers are beneath her. We don’t need anymore millionaires in Congress. Troy Jackson is a true blue collar Mainer who will put working people first!” … Troy Jackson to Ben Meiselas: “Just another day for me being a working class person. It's not the first time I've had someone that thought they were better than me talk down to me, and it’s something Collins has been doing to me throughout this campaign. But it is kind of funny though because this election actually it IS about a cord of wood. Right now, because of her and Trump, people can't afford to heat their homes. Yeah, I do know how to buy a cord of wood. I know how much it costs, and I know how to use it to heat your home. So I just find it so ironic that this is what she chose to use because right now it is about people who know how to buy a cord of wood. I spent 20 years in the state legislature helping people. So it is time to have a working-class person that knows how to buy a cord of wood in the US Senate.” … Ohio’s largest newspaper, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, abandoned its policy against gubernatorial endorsements to back Democrat Amy Acton: “There are moments when a community must decide what it stands for, when its institutions have a duty to speak and when silence itself becomes a statement. OH has reached such a moment. Vivek Ramaswamy, seeking the highest office in this state, has produced a campaign ad that weaponizes the sexual abuse his opponent, Amy Acton, suffered as a child. People across the political spectrum have rightly condemned it. But condemnation has to mean something. Our politics have been debased for a decade, but this we will not accept. A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party. We are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it. Today, we endorse Amy Acton for governor. And our endorsement of Acton rests on more than Ramaswamy’s failure to meet a basic standard of decency. She has earned consideration on her own record, her preparation and her commitment to the people she seeks to serve. For the better part of two years, Acton has traveled OH, meeting with people in small groups. Rural OH. Urban OH. Communities in between. Places where Democrats can expect a welcome and places where they must work hard to earn a hearing. She has kept showing up. Ramaswamy has offered Ohioans far less reason to trust him. He has focused much of his attention on wealthy donors while steadfastly refusing to explain what he would do about many of the issues he would face as governor. When our readers identified the questions they wanted answered, we devoted a 15-part series to seeking those answers. Acton participated. Ramaswamy refused. Those were Ohioans asking about OH’s future. Someone seeking the authority to govern them owed them answers. He also moved his business out of OH, to TX. For a candidate asking voters to entrust him with this state’s future, that was an extraordinary demonstration of his own lack of faith in it. Trump’s endorsement cannot substitute for accountability, preparation or judgment. And Ramaswamy’s decision to release this vile ad reveals a failure of judgment that OH cannot afford in its governor.” … Kansas City Star reporter David Hudnall: “I spent 3 days last week in Roger Marshall’s longtime home of Great Bend. I talked to women whose babies he delivered, people who’ve known him 30 years, Dems, Republicans, a guy Marshall once tried to talk into buying a bird dog from his litter. … Marshall has found himself in an unexpectedly close race to retain his US Senate seat in KS against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, a Methodist megachurch minister. I had come out to see what Marshall’s support looked like in the area where he’d built his professional career as a doctor and lived for some 30 years. … I eventually fell into a conversation with a retired Farmers Bank and Trust banker named Craig Neeland. He’d known Marshall for decades. ‘I was Roger’s loan officer,’ Neeland said. Neeland voted for Marshall when he ran for Congress in 2016, and again when he ran for the Senate 4 years later. But he won’t be voting for him this Nov.” … Neeland: “He gives Trump free rein every time. I voted for him to represent KS, not Trump.” Neeland was particularly bothered by Trump’s recent attempt to collect $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to settle a lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax records. “Not a single representative from KS stood up and said, ‘You’re trying to rob the bank.’” … Great Bend Mayor Alan Moeder was asked how residents felt about Marshall. He said he hadn’t seen him since he was elected to the Senate: “Look, it’s quite obvious he doesn’t live here anymore. He lives in FL. He has a little hunting lodge in Stafford County. And I think that’s an issue for people, from what I hear. He’s become disconnected with a lot of people around here.” … Herb Phillips, a retired Republican who ran a trash collection company in Great Bend for many years, said Marshall was one of his customers. He carried an old grudge relating to Marshall once trying to overcharge him for a bird dog: “He’s always just been kind of a dick.” … Republican pollster Matt Towery: “As we look at early voting it is becoming clear that a certain portion of the GOP base is not planning on voting. The GOP message in terms of paid ads has failed to explain why action on Iran was needed and what the consequences of a nuclear Iran would be. It is the ‘elephant in the room’ that must be addressed big time as the closing message. We have too many polls in too many states with Democrats leading and the GOP is running out of time.” … Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) denounced Trump’s support of Sen. Darlene Graham to CNN: “The voters in SC are not buying the argument that everyone has to ‘settle’ for a candidate that has been propped up by special interest groups and a Republican president spending millions of dollars spreading false narratives about why Darline Graham is qualified to be elected to the US Senate for the next 6 years.” “This election is about attempts to ‘force’ a candidate on the voters of SC. And regardless of the outcome, it didn’t have to be this way as the great people living in SC deserve ‘better!’ Bottom line! Elections have consequences!” … Fox has shifted 19 more races in favor of Democrats. … Fox News ratings change: US Senate Ohio: Toss-up —> Lean D South Carolina: Likely R —> Lean R Mississippi: Solid R —> Likely R —— US Governor Ohio: Toss-up —> Lean D … Cook Political Report ratings change: Kansas Governor: Lean R —> Toss-up —— Nebraska Governor: Likely R —> Lean R … Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball ratings change: US Senate: Florida: Safe R —> Likely R North Carolina: Lean D —> Likely D South Carolina: Likely R —> Lean R —— US Governor: Arizona: Lean D —> Likely D Vermont: Likely R —> Lean R Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my weekly podcast Uncovered on Wednesdays, where we do a deep dive into the top stories of the week. We are now one week out from the massively important midterms. I posted on Twitter two days before the 2020 election that Trump was not going to accept the results and we were heading for a big drama, and I think the same on a smaller scale now. I think that Trump is going to claim that elections were rigged and is likely to use DOJ and DHS in some way to contest results. So I don’t think all of this will be over when the votes are counted. But I also don’t think he will be quite as manic as 2020 since that election directly involved him. As someone who predicted violence in DC on social media in the days leading up to J6, I just believe his attempt to delegitimize the election this time will be less virulent and at some point he will revert to just blaming on Republicans who didn’t listen to him and didn’t use him in their ads. Also a reminder that for 6 weeks leading up to the midterms we made all our content available to free subscribers. After that we will revert back to the policy where about the first third of these will be available to free subscribers. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. If you missed Ask the Editor show, that is here. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Democratic congressional nominee Rebecca Cooke to Ben Meiselas on her opponent Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI): “He’s gotten drunk in his official office, yelled at Senate pages, carried a loaded gun through TSA. I mean, he’s really out there.” … A protester loudly interrupted Trump’s rally in MS, which was picked up on the audio feeds from various media outlets: “Hey, bone spurs! Release the Epstein Files! Shove that ballroom up your ass! Trump responded: Go home!” … The rally was supposed to be for Sen. Cyndi-Hyde Smith, but she appeared on stage for only about a minute, telling the audience only that Trump is the greatest president of her lifetime then walking off the stage. Trump complained that nobody in the crowd seemed to know what he was talking about when he claimed that the Biden admin put people in jail because they repaired their own cars: “Did nobody know that? What the hell do I have that line in there for? What the hell am I wasting my time for?” On Obama: “He made a speech where he said, isn’t it terrible that Trump spend a lot of his time fixing up the WH. He said this isn’t a Cheesecake Factory - which is a very successful company by the way - but he doesn’t like successful companies.” On the Iran War: “I don’t feel we had a choice. They were 2 weeks away from having a nuclear missile.” Trump pointing at some men sitting in the front: “Nice looking guys - these guys with those cowboy hats. I love those cowboys. I love the Cowboys. I love Texas. I won Texas 3 times.” … The speech was in MS. “So, I wonder if I should say this. I’d like a little advice from my two people, my two big monsters. My two monsters are going to be the biggest stars in the country in a week.” … He has previously referred to Russ Vought having a “big surprise” next week. He is apparently one of the “monsters” who is going to be a “big star” after the big reveal. Not sure who the other monster is. Stephen Miller seems like a monster. … Trump at a rally in TX: On his former WH physician now Rep. Ronny Jackson: “He was also the doctor for Obama and Bush. They asked him, ‘who’s the healthiest of the 3?’ He said, ‘without question the healthiest is Trump.’ And I’m a much better golfer. Because Obama, every piece of lettuce he eats has to be perfect, and I’m not that choosy.” On his $5,000 check promise: “You'll be my guest at Mar a Lago. The problem is that for $5000, the most you'll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert. I'm not even sure you could buy that. No, don't go there. That's not a good place for it.” “I ended 8 wars, but I didn't get the Nobel Prize. It was given to a woman nobody ever heard of. 5 of them were ended on trade. I said if you go to war I’m going to put a 250% tariffs on you. The President of Pakistan said I saved 30 million lives.” … GOP senate nominee Ken Paxton at the rally: “On July 4th, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of our country.” … I'm not a math genius but this is 2026. And he's talking about the Declaration of Independence in 1776. I think 2026 minus 1776 is a larger number than 200. … James Talarico, referring to one of many Paxton’s overseas trips including the UK this past summer with his mistress in the middle of the campaign: “It was actually our 250th anniversary. Not that you would know - you spent it with the British.” … Fox host Jesse Watters said Trump complementing rapper Nicki Minaj’s “ass” was the key to turning around the midterms for Republicans: “If he’s talking about healthcare or the economy, is that really going to break through? But when he says that about Nicki’s butt - low propensity voters, It punctures their bubble.” … I couldn’t make this shit up even if I wanted to. … Speaker Mike Johnson on Fox: Q - “Nate Silver says the polls would have to be really wrong for Republicans to hold the house. Johnson: The polls are wrong. Let me tell you why. In the last 10 days we had two polling organizations nationwide that have been exposed for completely fraudulent numbers, Wedgewood and SoCal strategies.” … Completely delusional. … JD Vance at a rally in Montana: “Democrats do not believe in the United States of America. They have taught our children to hate our history and feel shame about the flag. They feel more comfortable attacking our country than they do defending it.” On gas prices: “They skyrocket every time some tinpot dictator decides to throw a tantrum. But we have to remember that the Democrats solution to this problem is to whine and build a few windmills.” … Then Vance speaking to reporters on the tarmac heading to a campaign event in MI: “Abdul El-Sayed maybe more than Democrat running in the nation has engaged in explicitly anti-white hatred that has become common in the Democratic Party.” Q: “Is El-Sayed a jihadist like Trump said yesterday? Vance: Well look, he certainly has a lot of weird friends and he’s said a lot of crazy stuff.” Q: “Why shouldn’t Alaskans find it insulting that the admin is suggesting they can’t read the word ‘incumbent’ on their ballot and know to vote for Sen. Sullivan? Vance: People are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. When you put someone on the ballot to confuse voters, I think that is the definition of election fraud.” … RFK Jr. at a campaign event in MI for GOP senate candidate Mike Rogers: “There’s 500 million Arabs in the world. And yet they don’t produce science. They don’t win the Novel Prize. They don’t win the Fields Prize. They don’t win the Wolf Prize. They don’t produce literature.” … Zeteo reporter Justin Baragona: “Besides being nakedly racist and bigoted, this is just hilariously wrong on all levels. Omar Yaghi won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year, and he won the Wolf Prize in 2018. And that’s just one example. Last year’s winner of the National Book Award was Lebanese writer and painter Rabih Alameddine. The winner in non-fiction? Egyptian-American journalist Omar El Akkad.” … Elon Musk donated another $5 million to Greg Abbott’s PAC, raising his total spending on the midterms to an astonishing $475 million. … Politico: “Republicans’ small-dollar donor base has contracted in recent years, leaving the party more dependent on a tiny group of wealthy megadonors for support. … The GOP has had a cash advantage all year thanks to a relatively small group of large donors who have funded super PACs - Elon Musk alone has given nearly half a billion dollars this cycle. But the campaigns themselves have raised relatively little, and there’s one major reason: Other than Trump, who is still the party’s biggest fundraiser, Republicans still haven’t figured out how to raise money online. … New campaign finance filings reveal just how deep the problem goes. While Republicans have long struggled to grow their grassroots donor base, they’ve moved in the wrong direction in recent years. The number of federal donors giving through WinRed, the major GOP online fundraising platform, is down, with roughly 1.5 million donors so far this cycle compared to 2.2 million at this time in 2022. … Meanwhile the number of donors has increased by about one third on ActBlue, from 4.9 million to roughly 6.6 million. The contrast is stark: A single Democratic candidate, James Talarico, has had roughly the same number of donors on ActBlue this cycle as all Republican candidates and committees combined had on WinRed. … Republican digital strategists who have been sounding the alarm for years say lagging donations are a product of fatigue, driven by years of urgent messages to the same set of potential donors. GOP strategist Wesley Donehue: ‘We beat the absolute hell out of low-dollar donors with texts and emails without expanding our donor lists, and now no one pays attention.’” … NBC’s Ryan Reilly: “There was a no bill today in federal court, and Tuesday is the day that a federal grand jury has heard testimony in the Cassidy Hutchinson probe. WaPo is confirming it was indeed a failed attempt to indict Cassidy.” … NBC: “Federal prosecutors have charged former FBI Director James Comey with transmission of national defense information and conspiracy to transmit national defense information. It’s the third federal case against Comey, who has been a longtime target of Trump since he initiated the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. … Comey’s defense attorneys filed a motion 10 days ago to dismiss the charges. He has not been indicted in the case. Comey responded to the new charges in a video: “Well, they’re back again. It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of DOJ, one that we cannot become numb to. Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.” … The new charges stem from an Oct. 5, 2016, article in NYT with the headline ‘Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filte’ by reporter Charlie Savage. … Special Asst US Attorney Dustin Farahnak: “Comey sought to correct misinformation which had appeared in the press by way of Reuters the day before. The investigation has uncovered evidence that Comey directed staff to speak to Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified info.” … Comey’s attorneys argued that both counts “are based exclusively on the October 5, 2016, alleged disclosure exactly 10 years before the govt’s filed criminal information” - and that the charges should be tossed out because of statute-of-limitations issues. The case is “time barred,” they argue, because the govt had 10 years to bring the case “by obtaining a grand jury indictment.” … The charges that were filed are a criminal information - essentially a charge filed by prosecutors, not a grand jury indictment - and should therefore be dismissed, they argue. … Financial Times: Trump’s son vacationed in Mongolia with a Russian oligarch who has ties to Putin. Donald Trump Jr. went on a hunting trip to western Mongolia in late August 2026, where he spent two days at a remote camp in Uvs Province accompanied by Russian oligarch and International Boxing Association head Umar Kremlev. … Kremlev (who previously contributed to Trump Jr.’s wedding costs) was on the trip along with Russian businessman Artur Martirosov, and Republican donor Kevin Small. Trump Jr. hunted local wildlife, including an Altai argali (an endangered wild sheep) and an Altai ibex, and met informally with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh. … US Secret Service agents protected Trump Jr. during the trip, with federal documents showing hotel expenses in Ulaanbaatar. … Dictator Trump posted: “When will The Wall Street Journal start calling Artificial Intelligence (AI), a very bad and inaccurate name, SI (Super Intelligence), the name which virtually everyone else is using, or soon will be. In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, ‘AI/Artificial Intelligence,’ in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy.” … Judge Ana Reyes issued an injunction to halt construction at the E. Potomac Golf Course. From here order: “Rarely, if ever, has DOJ urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President. Not to believe him that a cabinet secretary has ‘developed’ a federal land project. Not to believe him that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. Not to believe him that ‘Restoration work’ will begin ‘IMMEDIATELY!’ Not to believe him that the course ‘will be closed’ for over a year. Not to believe what the President has repeatedly told the American public. And yet, here we are. Our government—as the Founders intended—is one of checks and balances between three coordinate and coequal branches. One branch may not shield itself from accountability merely by invoking separation of powers principles without any reasoning. But that is all the Government has done. And that invocation alone does not shift the balance of the equities in its favor. The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law.” … WaPo: “Trump’s planned 250-foot-tall arch would cast shadows on many graves and monuments in nearby Arlington National Cemetery. On some days, Trump’s arch would even shade the grave and eternal flame of JFK. Historians and architects said the symbolism of Trump’s arch casting shadows on the military cemetery was ‘undeniable’ and uncomfortable - and another example of Trump imposing his vision on the nation’s capital.” … Neil Young just filed a lawsuit against Trump for playing ‘Rockin in the Free World’ at his Oct 12 rally in OH. He said that Trump continues to play it repeatedly at rallies going back to 2020 despite receiving numerous cease and desists from Young’s attorneys. So he is now suing for $10 million. From the lawsuit: “Rockin in the Free World is a blistering anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of America political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten. In short, the song is the opposite of everything Donald J. Trump stands for.”