Anthony Zurcher

Well, you know, typically you have to convince the party officials.

You don't have to get them to sign off on it, but getting their support, getting the party's support, building relationships, whether it's a local race or a statewide race, that is the key.

Oftentimes the national party, which has committees like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Senate Committee,

leadership committee they will go out and actively recruit people they think this is someone an ex-veteran for instance or someone who is one locally and has a following or someone who kind of fits their idea of what a winning candidate could look like they go off and encourage them to run i mean that's what the senate leadership did with janet mills the governor of maine in this race they twisted her arm told her to run i don't think she really wanted to but they said you know we're

We're going to clear the field for you, everyone except this Plattner guy, and you should be able to get the nomination and a walk.

That's the way it often works.

The way it has worked more now and what some people within the progressive left of the Democratic Party and in the Tea Party on the right as well are trying to do is bypass those institutions, those kind of centers of power, and find their own candidates, convince them to run, help fund them through politics,

national donation network and social media and elevate their status and then get them to try to win a seat, even if the party doesn't have their back in the initial days.

convincing anthony yeah you know that is maybe they should find a different uh oppo research firm clearly they missed some stuff i mean all campaigns do this they they dig up the dirt on their own candidate in order to find out what could come up and then they can prepare themselves and clearly they they missed some things here and they dismissed some things it sounds like they didn't think the reddit post would be a big deal and maybe and maybe he's right maybe there won't be a big deal in the same way that you know stuff in trump's past ended up not being a big deal but uh

You could see they were also trying to bypass the establishment and find someone who they agreed with that they could put up.

But yeah, it sounds like there are some holes in their operation.

Yeah, it's a high risk and in theory, high reward.

I mean, if Platner wins, they're going to have an early 40-year-old progressive politician, kind of the mold of Bernie Sanders, who's going to be there for quite some time and is a very, as we heard in his speech, a very effective advocate for these type of positions, for a wealth tax, for universal health.

health care, for free college education.

He would be a prominent voice in the Senate if he wins.

But it is a gamble because, as you say, this is such a key race for Democrats.

They have to win this.

And maybe the theory is that they've been advancing traditional politicians now against Susan Collins every six years.

Maybe a non-traditional is the way to go.

I guess that is going to be the test, as you say.