Rasmussen: Collins +16 (!)

Via Marisol, we learn of a new Rasmussen poll with great news for the Collins camp:

Tom Allen (D): 41 (43) (42) (38) (42) (42) (42) (38)

Susan Collins (R-inc): 57 (53) (55) (53) (49) (49) (52) (54)

(Figures in parenthesis represent results from previous months.)

For reasons that are unclear, the Rasmussen folks haven't included breakdowns by party in this release.

But it really doesn't matter: Rasmussen is one of the most reliable pollsters out there. And their numbers have, at every stage of this race, been among the least favorable to Collins.

So the fact that she's expanded her lead here--and that it's moved into the mid-teens--has to be a huge comfort to Sen. Collins and her team.

Before this poll, Rep. Allen had a plausible, long-shot path to victory.

But with this result, the Allen team now has to hope for an extraordinary, once-a-decade electoral anomaly on Tuesday.

That kind of thing is probably more likely to happen in a 100 year flood election like this one. But it remains awfully unlikely.