Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who has the reputation of being a moderate New England Republican, doesn’t seem to be getting on board with the recent hard-right push from the Tea Partiers. In fact, the Kennebec Journal reports, she’s even badmouthing Sarah Palin for costing the GOP Senate seats — and she thinks Palin would rather be a “celebrity commentator” than run for president and govern:
Collins said Palin will be weakened if Sen. Lisa Murkowski wins her write-in campaign for re-election in Alaska. Election officials say enough write-in votes were cast that Murkowski could be the winner.
…
Collins does not expect Palin to run for president.
“I think she likes being a celebrity commentator for Fox and a speaker and being able to provide for her family,” Collins said. “I think that life appeals to her. It’s a lot easier to charge people up than to actually govern.”
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Governor Sarah Palin: A Long Goodbye]
Collins also said of Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), “they cost us two seats we could have won,” referring to the primary victories of Tea Party candidates in Delaware and Nevada. In fact, this isn’t exactly true — Palin did endorse Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, but only endorsed Sharron Angle well after the Republican primary.
Collins will be up for re-election in 2014.
(Via Collins Watch.)
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