Maine's Susan Collins exits an angry, bitter woman

By Ted Cohen

Susan Collins used to often repeat a line about what "an honor and a privilege" it was serving as a United States senator.

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But on the night she was soundly defeated in her bid to serve a sixth term, Collins sulked off on her own, denying "the little people" - as tax-dodging multi-millionaire hotel magnate Leona "Queen of Mean" Helmsley once famously called the maids who cleaned her rooms - a farewell.

As she realized her 30-year reign was apparently coming to an end, Collins walked through a group of loyal supporters at her watch party, pretending all was well.

"Collins betrayed no hint of concern," The Atlantic's Russell Berman reported. "Around 9:40 p.m., she made a long, beaming pass through the party. As Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' filled the room, she accepted hugs and handshakes, small gifts and words of encouragement.

"She peered at the laptop screen of a Republican staffer who showed her a rosy analysis of the latest returns. As Collins worked the crowd, it was still possible for Republicans to believe she might defy the odds one more time."

In previous elections, most notably the one six years ago, an occasional poll or more showed her losing but each time she ended up in victory.

The last betting markets this time around showed Democrat Troy Jackson with good odds of finally ending the three-decade run.

Collins toward the end of the campaign was starting to show cracks in her "honor and privilege to serve the state of Maine," accusing her opponent of marital incest and comparing the former logger to a cord of wood.

"Collins' stroll around the ballroom was, in retrospect, not a victory lap but a farewell," Atlantic reported. "She would not return to the party. Shortly after midnight, she called Jackson to congratulate him on his win. By that late hour, the ballroom throng had thinned to just a few dozen people, and Collins made no concession speech."

Thirty years Maine people have kept her in public office, enriching her life beyond measure, literally and figuratively.

And she didn't have the respect to come out before them and concede her career on a note of humility.

Suddenly the fake veneer had disappeared, unmasking the real Susan Collins, a bitter loser, angry at the little people for whom it was always allegedly "an honor and a privilege to serve."

Not so much as a simple thank you Maine for putting your trust in me to work for you.

Now, in defeat, she was shades of Lady Macbeth, not the humble descendant of potato farmers in Aroostook County.