Looking At 2026

2026 is right around the corner. Bold predictions for 2026. Might be a segment I do tomorrow, actually. I mean, I think about that. I used to write a column every year for the Bangor Daily News where I would make bold predictions for the upcoming, you know, next calendar 12 months. And they were guaranteed to be right about 82% of the time. But there's a lot of stuff that... is predictable, I suppose, about next year. And by predictable, I don't mean that you know the outcome. I mean, that, like, is worthy of prediction. I mean, think about Maine alone. Just think of the political races in Maine alone. This is among the biggest years that you would have on record. You have a major open gubernatorial seat where both parties are going to be vying for, uh, you know, actually getting that. And actually, not only the parties, but you have, you know, the independents like Rick Bennett that are in this, too, who have a realistic, plausible chance at it. So it's going to be an absolute death match. That's just one race. You have the U.S. Senate race, which has not just a compelling general election matchup because Susan Collins is viewed by the national Democrats as vulnerable. which they once thought and wasn't true back in 2020, but hey, they think it this time. So that might be a really big race. It certainly is going to be an expensive race because they believe it. And so do the Republicans that it's worthy of defending because they need it to be defended in order to make sure that that Senate majority stays where it is. So that's going to be a hundreds of millions of dollars race. But it's not just the general election. It's the primary. I mean, I have no idea what kind of money is going to be spent in it, but I suspect a lot. Grand Pat Graham Platner already has a lot. Janet Mills will be able to raise plenty for it, and she'll be emptying a lot of those coffers in the primary to ensure that she actually gets the nomination, because think about the stakes for her. Think about the stakes for Janet Mills for a minute. I mean, is not your legacy on the line? If your own party were to toss you aside after two terms as governor being elected statewide both times by comfortable margins, being viewed at least at one point by your party as a successful, dare I say, historic governor who guided us through a major crisis, and boy, she's the best. If your own party rejects you and even soundly rejects you, after that, what does that say about your legacy? Maybe all of that myth making was nonsense. Maybe they didn't really love you that much. Maybe you weren't actually that good of a governor. Maybe actually you were pretty bad and they don't want anything to do with you. Maybe the pitter patter of their heart was always fluttering for someone else. And you just misread the tea leaves. I mean, I've said for a long time that Janet Mills is fraudulently successful, if that makes sense. And by that, I mean, that a confluence of things have come together to make her successful circumstantially, contextually. I mean, 2018, right?