Maine failed GOP candidate refuses to take blame for defeat 

By Ted Cohen

The Republican who lost the Maine governor's race is refusing to take any of the blame for losing to his Democrat opponent.

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"Reverse engineer - is there anything we could have done differently and the answer is no," Bobby Charles told The Maine Wire. "We cannot beat the national headwinds."

Charles lost by 17 points to former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree, making the eight-point loss by five-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to Democrat Troy Jackson look like a virtual victory.

"Both Senator Collins and I were facing a national hurricane," he claimed. "In a normal year I think I would have prevailed and I think she would have prevailed."

"I have absolutely no regrets about this campaign. We just didn't have a big enough number to overcome the hurricane nationally."

Digital Media Editor Graham Pollard pressed Charles on whether his campaign could have done anything better.

Charles again refused to take any credit for losing, even going so far as doubling down on his claim that he was in a "hurricane."

"Actually we were a lean mean fighting machine," he insisted. "This campaign was one of the best operated I've ever seen. This was an excellent campaign."

Excuses excuses.

If a candidate isn't nimble enough to retool a campaign in the eye of an alleged political hurricane, then what happens when as governor he faces a real hurricane?

The "don't look at me" under Pollard's attempt to get a modicum of accountability for his disastrous defeat is exhibit one for losing.

If he had any inkling that the biggest mortal enemy to his campaign was Donald Trump, then he should have figured out a way to make Trump the target.

Knowing that Trump stood between him and the Blaine house, if that were really the case and it appears it was, Charles, if he's the gubernatorial timber he claims to be, should have figured out a way to take down the biggest threat to his becoming governor.

That he couldn't figure out a way to do that shows he's not equipped to solve big problems.

If you can't run a simple campaign you can't run a complicated state.