But What Is She For?

To its credit, PPH is taking a midday look at the Wall Street crisis, and the reactions of both candidates.

Allen has laid out his position. But from the Collins camp, it's still pops and buzzes:

Collins said Congress should stay in session until the financial mess is unraveled.

Okay. What else?

"Right now there seems to be a rush to act on this bill so we can adjourn this weekend," she said. "It's a staggering cost, we shouldn't be a rubber stamp on that. We've got to carefully look at what happened and why."

"Carefully look"? This is madness. The financial system has been slowly coming apart for the last two years. Everyone from Rep. Allen to the folks at Goldman Sachs now agrees that insufficient regulation is a big part of the problem.

Surely, Sen. Collins, you have enough information by now to stake out some position on the issue. Don't you?

Look. What's happening here is crystal clear: Susan Collins is stalling. She's ducking the issue so that she can spend some time sticking her finger in the wind.

And no doubt, tomorrow or the next day she'll surface with a statement that sounds pretty without actually committing herself to much of anything.

But the last couple of days have been a real test of leadership and of character: Faced with a category five financial hurricane, the junior senator is simply unwilling to take a position until some consensus has formed and she can find political cover.

Until then, she's unwilling to break with her anti-regulation corporate patrons even though the financial system itself may be on the line.

That's not loyalty. It's blind fealty. And it's a disaster for Maine and the country.