This election we have seen a lot of charades. In Maine, the national GOP party has bankrolled nearly $1 million in ads allegedly supporting me. And its candidate believes man-made climate change is a myth and says that nuclear energy is the best source for our future power and electricity needs.
But wait, there's more: On the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring,' a coveted environmental group has endorsed the unenrolled candidate, who thinks hydrofracking is probably safe and who won't make a firm decision on the destructive Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. He also won't support the feasibility study of a 'gift' of a national park land in northern Maine at a time when preserved common space can support a green economy and jobs.
It's not Godzilla hitting Maine. But we are surely down the rabbit hole.
I am very disheartened by the environmental organization's inexplicable decision. Despite its error, and despite the gender bias that so many national special interests have regarding this race, I promise Maine voters to remain true to who I am.
In the final analysis, I don't need environmental endorsements to verify that I am an environmentalist. I always have been.
I don't need D.C. insiders to validate my progressive, Democratic Party beliefs and credentials. I live them every day.
I don't need proof that the GOP national party has declared a war on women. I see the impact of their assaults on women every day.
I don't need to take a poll about the lives of everyday Maine people because I am one of those people. I live that life with my husband and two children. And I see you, my fellow Mainers, in the grocery stores, at the pharmacy, at our children's schools, at the town recycling area, at soccer games.
So trust me when I tell you: In this election I face great odds as a woman representing a new generation of leadership.
A few people in Maine have quietly counseled me to consider dropping out of this race because winning is such a long shot.
I know the odds are great. Just as great as imagining that a supporter of hydrofracking would win an environmental endorsement. Or that a member of the One Percent Club would convince voters he is middle class. Or that a GOP candidate in 2012 would still say that man-made climate change is fiction.
Yes, the odds against me winning are about as great as a front-runner in a U.S. Senate campaign telling voters: 'I don't know where I stand. I'll see when I get to Washington, D.C. Elect me first, then I'll tell you.'
So maybe the odds against my candidacy aren't that high after all.
I will always tell Maine voters where I stand -- before I am rewarded with their trust and with their votes.
I will always tell special interests where I stand -- before their potentially environmentally hazardous projects are built.
I will always be protective of Maine's future and will do the very best job to protect its wilderness areas -- even if that means studying an idea.
And I will always be a values-based, principled Democrat and Progressive, fighting for the Maine voters who supported me in the June primary and who continue to have my back.
Imagine the odds of that in a 2012 U.S. Senate race.