Graham Platner, the oyster farmer rocketing to Democratic celebrity nationally as he campaigns for Senate in Maine, is testing two hypotheses that could reset his party’s direction: that the censorious(挑剔的，苛责的) left can sometimes ignore past, regretted transgression(越轨行为，过错)s such as fascist tattoos or bigoted(偏执的，顽固的) social-media posts; and that voters in the centre and even on the populist right are far more drawn to economic causes such as universal health care than they are repelled by cultural ones he also believes in, such as welcoming transgender athletes into girls’ sports.
格雷厄姆·普拉特纳，这位在缅因州竞选参议员、迅速成为全国民主党明星的牡蛎养殖户，正在检验两个可能重塑其政党方向的假设：一是挑剔的左派有时可以忽略过去令人后悔的越轨行为，比如法西斯纹身或偏执的社交媒体帖子；二是中间派甚至民粹右翼的选民更被全民医保等经济事业所吸引，而不是被他同样信奉的文化议题（例如欢迎跨性别运动员参加女子体育）所排斥。
Mr Platner’s commitment to the second hypothesis has already helped him prove the first. Revelations of past misbehaviour have not slowed his momentum. A little hypocrisy in politics should surprise no one; it is simply more obvious on the high-church left(高教会派式的左派), as it also is on the Evangelical right, because of the particular stress those movements place on purity. But just as the right has withheld its sanctimony(伪善，道貌岸然) from champions of its own, such as Donald Trump, the left has embraced Mr Platner because he looks to be their kind of winner.
普拉特纳先生对第二个假设的践行已助他证实了第一个假设。过往不当行为的曝光并未减缓他的势头。政治中的些许虚伪不应令任何人惊讶；它只是在高教会派式的左派中更为明显，正如在福音派右派中一样，因为这些运动特别强调纯洁性。但正如右派对自己阵营的斗士（如唐纳德·特朗普）免除了道貌岸然，左派也接纳了普拉特纳，因为他看起来像是他们想要的那种赢家。
Janet Mills, the sitting two-term governor, gave up a bid for the Senate late last month. Despite her own popularity with Democrats, she bowed to the inevitability(向不可避免之事低头) that Mr Platner—a college dropout whose previous public roles were serving as a harbourmaster and chair of his local planning board—would crush her in the primary in June. He is the presumptive(推定的，假定的) choice to run against Susan Collins, a Republican in her fifth term, in a race Democrats see as essential to winning a majority in the Senate.
现任两任州长珍妮特·米尔斯上月末放弃了参议员竞选。尽管自身在民主党中颇受欢迎，她还是屈服于一个不可避免的现实：普拉特纳先生——大学辍学生，之前的公职经历是担任港务长和当地规划委员会主席——将在六月初选中击败她。他是与第五任共和党人苏珊·柯林斯对决的推定人选，这场竞选被民主党视为赢得参议院多数席位的关键。