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Page H2From§Eachthe supper edition — 28 September 2026

THE LEDGER

An ad, a corruption report, and spray paint later, Collins still leads by three points.

By RuthThe Money Desk

“UN Inquiry Finds US Strike on Minab, Iran, That Killed 123 Children Was War Crime”, 17 September 2026 (Photo via Truthout — the original report)

As it ran on the front

The ledger opens on September 11, when Senate Republicans' campaign arm, the Senate Leadership Fund, ran an ad against Troy Jackson for raising taxes during his years in Maine's state Senate. That entry closes on its own: taxes, dated, nothing pending.

Eleven days later a second entry opened. ProPublica published a report describing what it called a sprawling pay-to-play operation around Sen. Susan Collins. Jackson called it corruption of the highest order and said Collins delivered millions in taxpayer dollars for a donor bankrolling her campaign. Collins's aide called the report categorically false. The entry stands as filed: one side's account against the other's denial, with no third figure in the receipts to check either one against.…

…(cont) Two days after that, on September 24, a New York Times/Siena poll put Collins ahead of Jackson, 49 to 46, a three-point lead inside the margin the pollsters call error. Whatever the corruption story cost either campaign, it did not show up in that number.

Monday, a third entry opened. The Senate Majority PAC, the Democrats' super PAC, launched an ad tying Collins to about a dozen closed birthing centers in Maine and to the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The reconciliation problem sits on the face of the filing: Collins voted against that bill's final passage. That is the argument as the receipts carry it. Whether the roll call backs it is a question for the roll call, and nobody's ad has put that roll call in a chart yet.

The same week, one of Collins's six Maine offices, in Biddeford, was spray-painted with an obscenity naming Trump, not Collins. Her chief of staff said the senator and her staff will not be intimidated. No receipt ties the paint to the PAC ad, the ProPublica report, or the poll. It sits in the same week because the calendar put it there, not because anyone's filing says why.

Run the whole ledger against itself and the total for the week is a corruption report denied, a birthing-center ad filed, an office vandalized, and a three-point lead that outlasted all three. The gap both parties' ad budgets are fighting over is the same three points, hon. Neither column has moved it yet.

“They spray paint "Trump" on her own office door and somehow she gets to play the victim, while a dozen birthing centers in her state go dark. They call the corruption report "categorically false" and that's treated as the end of it, no books opened, no numbers shown, and she still wins the week by three points. That's the whole racket: deny it, wait it out, cash the check.”
Sal
“Look, the senator voted against the final bill, that's the record, so tying her to the birthing centers is a stretch, an unfair stretch. And the vandalism just proves the other side ran out of arguments and picked up a spray can instead. As for the corruption report, categorically false, case closed— did I say case closed? We haven't actually put out the paperwork on that one. Forget I said that.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

Susan Collins office in Maine spray-painted with obscenity
Washington Examinerright§

One of Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-ME) federal offices in Maine was vandalized with profane graffiti, her top deputy confirmed on Monday. Chief of staff Katie Brown said that “Senator Collins and her staff will not be intimidated”

Senate Democratic PAC hits Collins over Medicaid cuts she voted against OBBBA's Medicaid cuts closed a dozen birthing centers in Maine
The Hillmainstream§

A Democratic super PAC on Monday launched a new ad campaign attacking Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for the closure of about a dozen birthing centers in Maine, arguing she helped enable the massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act even though she voted against the legislation. The Senate Majority PAC, which supports...

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· Collins opponent says 'jig is up' after ProPublica report; her aide calls it 'categorically false' from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026

· Collins leads Maine Senate race by 3 points: Survey from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026

· Senate Republican PAC targets Troy Jackson over record of tax increases in new ad from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· U.N. experts say U.S. may have committed war crimes with 2 Iran strikes from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026

· Trump Says 'Big Decision' Coming on Whether to 'Annihilate' Iran from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· Pentagon No. 3 frustrates senators in closed-door briefing on Iran war, Trump defense strategy from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Senate Democrats, minus Fetterman, urge Hegseth to provide receipt for Iran war costs from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Hegseth on "devastation" to Iran's capabilities from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026

· Trump admits Iran war will not end before midterms from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· Iran War Trump Said Would Be Quick Has Now Lasted 6 Months With 'No End In Sight' from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026

· CBO Finds Trump's Iran War Has Already Cost Nearly $40 Billion—And That's a 'Conservative' Estimate from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

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· Trump says he has a ‘big decision’ coming up on Iran: ‘Do I want to go in and annihilate them’ from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Fox News Poll: 71% think Trump administration lacks plan to end Iran war from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

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· U.S. Strike on Iranian School May Have Been War Crime, U.N. Report Says from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

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· US investigating if missile hit Iranian wedding ceremony, killing 4 from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

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· Human rights experts: 'Reasonable grounds' to believe US committed war crimes with Iran strikes from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· US Energy Consumers Have Spent $121 Billion Extra Since Trump Launched Iran War: Moody's from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

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· Rep. Thomas Massie forcing vote on Pete Hegseth's impeachment from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

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· Former Air Force secretary: Hegseth's Pentagon 'dysfunctional' from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026

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· Fossil Fuel Advertising Contracts Hit Record High as Big Oil Pockets Billions From Iran War from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

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· GOP Rep Thomas Massie introduces 8 articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

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· Thomas Massie Forces Vote To Impeach Pete Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

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· Hegseth Quietly Extends Middle East Troop Deployments Into 2027 as Iran War Drags On from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026

· Costco imposes purchase limits on motor oil, hikes prices by nearly double from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

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This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.