The "Centrist" Canard

Nancy Grape gets it:

To frame a senatorial election as one that pits a centrist vs. a partisan, you have to have a centrist in the race.

And Collins' centrist credentials, like those of Sen. Olympia Snowe, are getting frayed.

In establishing herself as a main player in "homeland security" and standing visibly with President Bush early in a disastrous war in Iraq (she now opposes the troop surge but refuses to support a timetable for withdrawing troops), as well as in voting to confirm Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Collins has moved public perception of her to the right.

That raises the stakes considerably in a state where independents--including independent women--play a major role. It also raises the national significance of the race.