Editor's Notes: Entering the Circular Firing Squad

Today, we published the second Alan Elrod article in a week on the toxic politics surrounding the Democratic candidate for Maine's Senate seat, Graham Platner. What's more, yesterday we published Katherine Alejandra Cross in a similar vein. Why the focus on Platner, when so much is at stake in resisting Republicans?

Well, for one thing, Alan and Katherine brought us their drafts, and they were very good. They reflected liberal values we seek to promote, and offered cogent analysis. We did not specifically commission or request any of the three pieces. They felt what they had to say was important, we thought they represented views we were comfortable with, so we published them. In some ways, it's as simple as that.

But there's more to it, of course. One drum we bang on a fair amount is to vote blue no matter who, the idea that essentially any Democrat winning a seat that a Republican would have had is an important victory at this moment. And we really are consistent about this, it's not implicitly about trying to cram a specific wing of the coalition down the other wing's throat. If AOC is the candidate in 2028, you should vote for her in the general, if it's Newsom, you should vote for him. You should vote for a Mamdani or a Spanberger, a Talarico or an El-Sayed.

But should you vote for someone whose politics might be right and who would definitely be an improvement over a Republican, but is actually a bad person? This is a question that sits pretty uncomfortably among those who take our moment seriously.