On experience

It's hard to ignore some similarities in personality and general demeanor between Platner and Fetterman, but one area in which Fetterman had clear superiority was in political experience.

I find that a little more interesting in that Fetterman's experience was not ideal, but still something. There may be some lessons in examining it.

First of all, Platner's listed experience is as harbormaster, chair of a planning board, and some leading of activist efforts. The primary detail I have seen on any of those is some people calling his harbormaster job nonexistent. 

Harbormaster job descriptions vary a lot, so that could mean it's largely an honorary position, which is not quite the same as nonexistent. That might have been something to pursue earlier in the process, but at this point there are bigger concerns.

On the other hand, Fetterman was the Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and prior to that served as mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania for thirteen years.

I notice two things about Fetterman's experience.

The first is that those are more executive than legislative positions. The duties are different, and the ways of working. It's great to have an executive who is good at working with others, but it is more consistently a need in legislative work. 

There are people who excel at both, but it probably requires some adjustment.

The other thing about having a public service record is that it gives people a chance to observe your work.

One of the duties of a lieutenant governor, at least in Pennsylvania, is presiding over the state senate. Fetterman attended only half of the sessions in 2020, and a third of them in 2021. Starting from the inauguration, he left about a third of his work days blank. The days he did work often lasted only 4-5 hours. 

At the same time, he was diligent in visiting counties regarding marijuana legalization (which the governor had assigned him to do) and was passionate and engaged in his work overseeing the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons.

Looking at that only (without considering other personality concerns), I would not think that legislation on a national level would be the best fit for him. Putting him over a department might work great, though the shortened working schedule could have a bad effect on general morale. Putting him over a temporary project that he cared about might be better.

That's just being practical.

Being practical solely on the topic of experience for the Maine election, Mills was easily the most qualified. 

For the other three, there's not much political experience at all, but based on job backgrounds Costello and LaFlamme are both more suited to the Senate than Platner would be.

The people who are pushing Platner aren't really about that. It's image, and personality, and vibes.

It is about that in a very specific way.