LCV In Perspective

It's not clear what impact, if any, the national LCV's endorsement of Sen. Collins will have on the race given the thin case that was made for the move, and given that it's been rejected by organization officials on the ground in Maine.

But it needs to be said: The national organization's decision to back Sen. Collins represents a fundamental betrayal of its values and its members.

After all, members expect the League to support candidates with strong environmental profiles over those who've fallen short of the group's standards. That's the whole point of an endorsement.

So when the group's leadership does the reverse--backing the obviously weaker candidate--it draws the League's entire mission into question.

Also worth noting: This endorsement doesn't appear to be an attempt--as these things sometime are--to curry favor with a powerful lawmaker on the verge of re-election.

Remember, Susan Collins just isn't that powerful. And her re-election is far from assured: Given the current political landscape, which grows bleaker by the day for Republicans, there just hasn't been enough polling on the Maine race for anyone to know with confidence how things will turn out.

So this endorsement is almost certainly about something else: It looks very much like an attempt to reach out to Republican LCV donors, and to insulate the organization from criticism that it only backs Democrats.

(For the record, I'm still waiting for a return call from LCV's Washington D.C. office about its reasoning. I first contacted the organization for comment on the Senate race in Maine on May 9.)

Of course, LCV bills itself as a non-partisan organization. So it shouldn't be taking party affiliation into account in its endorsements. And the organization professes not to.

But it's hard to believe anything LCV says these days.