Democrats had hoped to make a contest out of the Maine Senate race. However, the latest poll numbers show GOP Sen. Susan Collins with a substantial lead over her Democratic rival Chellie Pingree.

Pingree has been a successful advocate of health care issues in the Maine Senate, and she hoped to ride those issues to victory in November. However, Collins, aided and abetted by Senate Democrats, has done an excellent job coopting those issues by sponsoring and passing several health care-related bills, including one making generic drugs more widely available. It is thus more difficult for Pingree, if not impossible, to differentiate herself from Collins. Arguing "I will fight harder for health care issues than Collins" is just plain weak.

Pingree has also tried to gain traction on the corporate governance issue, even garnering the support of a high-profile Maine Republican (now ex-Republican), but fact is, her signature issue -- health care -- has been effectively taken off the table by Collins.