Mark Halperin

And we're going to see a lot of talks between Mills and and Plattner.

Here is the first Mills negative ad, major negative ad against Plattner going after him for some of the things he said in the past about about some pretty controversial issues.

Here's the ad.

Now, Plattner's got a lot of money too, just like Mills, and he's going to defend himself.

Here is his response video to the ad that Mills is now running against him.

So again, my sources don't really know who's going to win between Platner and Mills.

There's going to be debates and there's going to be more ads, but neither of them is a sure thing against Collins.

Mills is going to have the handicap of being another establishment figure who's been around a while.

Platner is going to face more scrutiny.

And even though a ton has come out about him already, Republican sources are confident that they'll unearth more stuff that hasn't been out there.

And, you know, so far when he's dealt with controversy, some people have been a fan of how he's handled it.

Some haven't.

But I make Collins the favorite here.

People can say this is a natural pickup for the Democrats because she is representing a state that was won by Kamala Harris.

They can say she's an establishment figure.

She's been around too long.

But I think the matchup with either of the Democrats, particularly as they come out of a bruising primary in June,

My sources, by my reporting, suggest Collins is going to win.

And again, if Democrats can't beat Susan Collins, even if they defend all three of their seats that they're defending, they're not going to take the majority.

So that's number one.