The Kennebec Journal endorsed Senator Collins for reelection today:

As Washington Post political reporter Shailagh Murray writes, if the Senate Democrats have 57 or 58 votes post-election, "the most powerful people in the Senate will be a handful of Republicans like Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, along with Joe Lieberman."

The Press Herald is reporting on a new poll by Maine Democratic pollster Patrick Murphy's Pan Atlantic/SMS:
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins holds a 21 percentage point lead over her Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, in a poll released today by a Portland market research firm.

The poll by Pan Atlantic SMS Group found that Collins had 57 percent of the vote, Allen had 36 percent and 7 percent were undecided.

http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/034562.html

Peter Chandler, chair of the Maine Democrats' Victory Campaign, is sending out emails that are putting a creative spin on Tom Allen's role in the Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac fiasco.

In typical Maine Democratic Party style, Chandler is playing a shell game: he's calling Susan Collins a liar based on a statement he made up. Chandler and the Allen campaign are claiming Senator Collins criticized Allen for a vote against a bill - HR 1461. Clever attempt, but Chandler is not telling the truth. Collins has, instead, been critical of Allen's attempts to block amendments to the bill.

A SurveyUSA/WCSH6 poll is showing Senator Collins continuing to dominate Tom Allen. She leads 55-39, and holds a 14 point lead in Tom Allen's own district.

Here's the story:
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=93318&catid=2

Celebrated leftwing blogger Matt Stoller had this to say about Maine Congressman Tom Allen:

I didn't like Tom Allen when he went after bloggers in 2005. He's part of that wanker class. I hope he defeats Susan Collins and would vote for him if given the opportunity, but I can see why Maine voters wouldn't want to put him in the Senate.

Yikes.

Tom Allen's campaign has taken a ton of money from MoveOn.org and their various affiliates. Last year they dumped over $1 million in ridiculous attack ads in Maine. Now they're back, this time under the name VoteVets.org, and they've launched an attack ad that is not only factually incorrect, but poorly produced.

Rasmussen Reports issued it's latest poll on the Maine Senate Race:

Maine Senate: Collins Doubles Lead over Allen

Maine Senator Susan Collins has more than doubled her lead over Democratic challenger Tom Allen in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. The Republican incumbent is ahead 53% to 38%.

When “leaners” are included, Collins leads 55% to 40%.

..

The incumbent is viewed favorably by 67% and unfavorably by 29%. Allen’s ratings are 54% favorable, 37% unfavorable.

The Politicker's Managing Editor James Pindell has introduced his 'Pindell Report' of Senate and House races, and had this to say about the Maine Senate race:

Susan Collins' re-election bid, which was once of the country's most closely watched U.S. Senate races, is becoming increasingly more secure for Collins, a new Politicker.com analysis shows...

Press release from the Collins for Senator campaign:

TOM ALLEN VOTES (AGAIN) TO JEOPARDIZE THE SAFETY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE

Congressman Tom Allen chose politics over the safety and security of the American people by voting Friday with a small minority against a bipartisan compromise that would modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. FISA is one of the most important tools in the war against terror, allowing our nation's intelligence community to conduct lawful surveillance of suspected terrorists. FISA has helped our intelligence agencies protect our country, and our military troops in the field, by granting these agencies the authority to intercept terrorist plots. The compromise bill provides our intelligence agencies with the tools they need to help protect against possible terrorist attacks, while protecting civil liberties.

"Tom Allen had a chance to help protect our nation's safety and security. Unfortunately, he caved in to the pressure of partisan special interest groups and voted to deny our intelligence community the necessary resources to continue monitoring foreign-based, terrorist communications," said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for Collins for Senator.

WHAT TOM ALLEN'S DEMOCRATIC COLLEAGUES ARE SAYING ABOUT FISA LEGISLATION:

• SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE NANCY PELOSI (D-CA) "Our troops in the field depend on timely and reliable information." "Good intelligence is necessary for us to know the plans of the terrorists." "This bill does not allow warrantless surveillance of Americans."
• HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER STENY HOYER (D-MD) "This bipartisan bill balances the needs of our intelligence community with Americans' civil liberties, and provides critical new oversight and accountability requirements," said Hoyer. "It is the result of compromise, and like any compromise is not perfect, but I believe it strikes a sound balance. Furthermore, we have ensured that Congress can revisit these issues because the legislation will sunset at the end of 2012."
• HOUSE ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN IKE SKELTON (D-MO) "This bipartisan compromise strikes the right balance between providing our intelligence community with the tools they need to find and fight terrorists and protecting our constitutional rights."
• SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV) "At its core this historic, bipartisan agreement to modernize FISA is about providing an essential tool in the fight against terrorism. It meets our dual obligations to make our Nation safe and restore the privacy protections and civil liberties Americans require."

TheAtlantic.com's Marc Ambinder published "The first in an occasional series of posts ranking the competitive Senate races."

Ranked by competitiveness, Maine's race was listed dead last:

Mainers don’t seem to be in the mood to kick out Sen. Susan Collins; it’s a stretch to label her a “Bush Republican,” as Democrat Rep. Tom Allen is finding out.