The Washington Post put it this way: Platner, before the latest allegation, faced scrutiny for old social media posts dismissive of sexual assault, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he has since covered up, sexually explicit text messages he sent to other women after he married in 2023, and allegations of physical violence by ex-girlfriends. That's all. That wasn't enough to cost him the support of all the leading progressives in American politics. They did somersaults to support this guy. They accused his critics of partisan smears.

Then there was the rape allegation. A credible allegation of rape was more than Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren could accept.

Thank goodness for small things. When I used to spend a lot of time lecturing at colleges and universities, I used to tell women: "Don't say no, Say Rape." It's a powerful word. We worked hard to give it that power. If Platner has not stepped aside by the time you read this, it's because he's trying to influence who succeeds him. He's toast.

But seriously. What was this man ever doing as the Democratic nominee for Senate in the state that may well determine control of the Senate, and everything that goes with it?

Is the Democratic Party so desperate for candidates who speak to the working class, even if they've never been vetted for anything, that they are willing to stake control of the Senate on a total loose cannon?

There's plenty of blame for how the Democrats got in the mess they're in. There's Chuck Schumer and the Democratic establishment, which selected and supported the seventy-something incumbent Gov. Janet Mills, whom I greatly respect but who was absolutely the wrong candidate for a generationally charged, change-oriented electorate. To put it simply, they misread the room and, in doing so, kept other would-be candidates out of the race, clearing the lane for the doomed Platner to emerge untested.

There's plenty of blame on the left as well, for not heeding the warning signs on Platner and dismissing, or worse, those who did. Emily's list, which supports women candidates and supported Janet Mills in the primary, said it best, "When women raise the alarm, listen. Graham Platner's behavior is disqualifying (AS WE HAVE SAID THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME), and he should end his campaign."

In June, The New York Times published a long article quoting three women who had been in sexual relationships with Platner and had been treated badly. They said he was demeaning to women and, in one case, physically threatening. The women were dismissed by Platner's partisan backers, in one case with what appeared to be a partisan smear. Indeed, the woman who decided to go public with accusations of rape, which finally burst the Platner balloon, said she made her decision to do so after one of the other women who had also spoken to the Times was dismissed because of her conservative politics. Dismiss one woman and another speaks up. That's what happened.

The question now is what all the people who are to blame for the mess should do about it. The one thing not to do, obviously, is to have the unpopular dropout anoint his successor, as Biden so disastrously did. Imagine anything worse. There has to be some sort of open process, which produces neither a Platner nor a Mills, but someone who can shift the focus to what is at stake for this country if Maine can't get its act together.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Cole Ankney at Unsplash