In the wake of Independent former Governor Angus King’s announcement yesterday that he intends to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Maine, Politico reports today that King’s decision has had a “chilling effect” on the potential bid of liberal Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree.  But as the NRSC observed yesterday, it’s the silence from national Democrats which speaks volumes.

“It’s a remarkable development that the same Democratic party strategists in Washington who proudly recruited such liberal stalwarts as Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin, are effectively shoving Chellie Pingree aside in favor of an Independent candidate who supported George W. Bush in 2000,” NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer said today.

“The silence by national Democrats in this race, and the fact that there doesn’t appear to be any organized effort to collect signatures for a Pingree Senate candidacy, makes clear that some type of backroom deal appears to have already taken place between Harry Reid and Angus King, just as we saw with Bob Kerrey last week,” Jesmer concluded.