𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐃 — 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐒𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐀𝐈𝐃 At the final Maine Senate debate before tomorrow’s election, moderators asked Susan Collins and Troy Jackson a simple yes-or-no question: should voters be required to show ID at the polls? Collins answered without hesitation: 𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦. Jackson’s answer wasn’t a policy argument. It was 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘐𝘋. 𝘕𝘰, he told the stage — volunteering, unprompted, that he has personally cast ballots without ever producing identification. The man asking Mainers to send him to the United States Senate just 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚 that he doesn’t think Americans should have to prove who they are to vote, because he hasn’t always done it himself. Minutes later the debate swung from the ballot box to the Middle East. Asked whether U.S. military aid to Israel should increase, decrease, or stay about the same, Collins didn’t hedge: 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳. Jackson got the same direct question and gave anything but a direct answer: 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘑 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. J Street brands itself pro-Israel, but the group has spent this cycle pressuring Democrats to condition or cut military aid to the ally fighting H∗mas and H∗zbollah — the same terror networks Iran bankrolls. Jackson’s 𝐉 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 is the tell: he wouldn’t say more, less, or the same on Israel aid because the group backing him doesn’t want him to. Collins gave Mainers two straight answers on tape: yes to voter ID, yes to Israel. Jackson gave them a logger story and a lobbying group’s name instead of a position. Voters don’t have to guess who leveled with them — they just have to hit play. 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬.