Integrity

There's has actually been some coverage this morning of Sen. Collins' sticky predicament regarding the McCain campaign's robocalls.

But there are nuances here--and unspoken assumptions--that need to be brought to the surface.

Namely: In most races, a candidate's refusal to break with a colleague engaged in deplorable tactics would be notable but not significant. It would be a blip on the radar. And the reporting so far has looked at Susan Collins' dilemma through that lens.

But here's the thing: Collins hasn't been running a normal campaign. Unlike just about every other candidate in the country, she's running not on an issue-based platform but instead on a vow to elevate the tone in Washington and put an end to the bitter partisanship that's been plaguing the city.

So the way she handles the McCain campaign's smears tests the fundamental premise of her campaign.

After all, if partisan rancor is really the central problem in our political system, how can Collins continue to support--and work on behalf of--a candidate who she concedes is working to make that problem worse? And who refuses to rein in the gutter tactics even after she's stressed to him how destructive they are?

If bitter partisanship is the chief obstacle to progress in Washington, isn't it incumbent on Collins to not just call out those who stubbornly cling to bitterness but to break with them?

In short, Collins' refusal, thus far, to cut McCain lose isn't just garden variety hypocrisy. (It's not, for example, the kind of hypocrisy evidenced by her decision to break her two-term pledge.)

This is hypocrisy that cuts to the core of her political identity and the case she's made for reelection.

And that makes it at least potentially explosive.

Which is why the Collins camp isn't returning phone calls.