With control of the US Senate up in the air, Democrats are targeting Maine as a possible firewall to preventing Republicans from seizing control. The Daily Beast is already asking whether “independent” Senate candidate and former Maine Governor Angus King can “save the Senate.” The Washington Post has labeled King “the most important Senate candidate in the country.”

King is running as a moderate – where have we heard this before? – who can help make the Senate function more smoothly. He opposes the filibuster, and refuses to state whether he’ll join Republicans or Democrats if he wins election.

But his record in Maine was anything but moderate. When King took office, he had a projected budget surplus of nearly $300 million; when he left, the state had a budget deficit of over $1 billion. The budget of the state skyrocketed by some $3 billion, increasing spending more than 50%. He underwrote a program that gave middle-schoolers government-sponsored laptops. He put severe environmental restrictions on logging. While King declares he’s not a Democrat, he did contribute money to President Obama’s 2008 campaign.

This is how liberals now hope to keep the Senate: by pretending they’re conservatives. The media will give them cover. The question is whether the people of Maine – and across the United States – will buy the myth.