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Super PAC ads attacking Troy Jackson ran in Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 10 outlets, mostly left-leaning (60%).

11 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Super PAC Defending Main Street, which backs Sen. Susan Collins, ran about $25,000 in digital ads attacking her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, in Portland, Oregon, instead of Portland, Maine. The PAC and outlets including The New York Times and The Hill say the error came from its ad vendor, Cross Screen Media, which admitted the mistake and refunded the money. According to Just the News and The Western Journal, the ad was pulled from Oregon and a new campaign against Jackson began in Maine. Coverage describes the Collins–Jackson Senate race as close.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. A super PAC backing Sen. Susan Collins ran digital ads in Portland, Oregon, instead of Portland, Maine.

    Reported byFar Left3Left3Center1Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    The Intercept, The New Republic, The Daily Beast
    Left
    The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Independent
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    Washington Examiner
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Western Journal

  2. The ads attacked Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson.

    Reported byFar Left1Left1Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    The Intercept
    Left
    The New York Times
    Right
    Washington Examiner
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Western Journal

  3. The mistaken buy cost about $25,000.

    Reported byCenter1Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    Washington Examiner
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Western Journal

  4. The PAC blamed its ad vendor, Cross Screen Media, which admitted the error and refunded the money.

    Reported byLeft2Center1Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Washington Post, The New York Times
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    Washington Examiner
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Western Journal

  5. The PAC’s chief financial officer said the vendor had begun a new campaign targeting Jackson in Maine.

    One outletJust the News· Far Right

  6. Collins and Jackson are in a close race, which Newsweek reported as a toss-up in recent polls.

    One side only: the rightReported byFar Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Western Journal

How each side tells it

Compare views

Every side reports that a pro-Collins super PAC’s digital ads attacking Troy Jackson ran in Portland, Oregon, not Maine, and that its vendor was blamed. Far-left outlets mock the GOP link while mainstream left headlines state the mistake plainly, and right and center headlines report the wrong-state buy with few characterizations.

  • the left

    6 outlets

    Mainstream left headlines state the wrong-state ad buy plainly, while far-left outlets stress the GOP super PAC’s link to Collins and mock the mistake.

    Anti-Troy Jackson Ad Runs in Oregon, Not Maine
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    1 outlet

    The Hill’s headline states the mix-up in one line, naming the super PAC and the wrong Portland, with no characterization.

    Pro-Collins ads target wrong Portland in GOP super PAC mix-up
    The HillCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    3 outlets

    Right-side headlines stress the accidental wrong-state buy; the Far Right Western Journal calls it a blunder and frames it around the Senate race.

    Pro-Susan Collins PAC accidentally spends thousands attacking Troy Jackson in the wrong Portland
    Washington ExaminerRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left2

    furiousMAGA Goons

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right1

    Blunder

In the outlets’ own words

  • Sensational language

    furiousMore neutral: unhappy

    Describes the operatives’ emotional state without attributing it to any named source.

    A costly campaign blunder has left Republican operatives furious as Sen.

    Used byThe Daily Beast (Far Left)

  • Dehumanizing label

    MAGA GoonsMore neutral: Republican operatives

    Labels the Republican group’s members as thugs before the facts about the mistake are established.

    MAGA Goons Launch Attack Ad Campaign 3,100 Miles From Target

    Used byThe Daily Beast (Far Left)

  • Sensational language

    BlunderMore neutral: mistake

    Calling the error a blunder adds a judgement of fault that the other outlets, which say mix-up or mistake, do not make.

    Campaign Blunder Causes Ad for Key Senate Race to Air in the Wrong State on the Opposite End of the…

    Used byThe Western Journal (Far Right)

Words quoted from someone else (1)Hide the quoted words

Loaded words that outlets reported someone else saying. They show what was said, not how the outlet chose to say it.

  • Partisan shorthand

    Quoted

    Taxin’ Troy JacksonMore neutral: the ad’s nickname for Jackson, which it calls him

    The ad’s slogan attaches a tax-raising label to Jackson, a conclusion the ad asserts rather than a neutral description of him.

    The advertisement targeted Collins’ Democratic opponent and branded him as “Taxin’ Troy Jackson.” President of the PAC, Sarah Chamberlain, said she was “very unhappy” about…

    Quoted byThe Western Journal (Far Right)

    These are Defending Main Street’s words. The outlets are reporting them.

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

6 outlets

Leads with

  • the GOP super PAC’s link to Collins
  • the mistake in the wrong Portland
  • ridicule of the ad campaign
See the 6 headlines from the leftHide the headlines
  • The IndependentLeft

    GOP ad buyer mixes up his Portlands and spends big for Maine Sen. Susan Collins. In Oregon.

    ‘I’ve gotten 5 anti-Troy Jackson ads in the last 24 hours,’ an Oregon resident wrote on social media. ‘I choose to believe they mixed up Portlands’

    Read at The Independent (opens in a new tab)
  • The Daily BeastFar Left

    Dehumanizing label“MAGA Goons”Labels the Republican group’s members as thugs before the facts about the mistake are established.More neutral: Republican operativesDisagree with this highlight? Launch Attack Ad Campaign 3,100 Miles From Target

    A Republican political group working to help Maine Sen. Susan Collins in her reelection bid launched a costly ad buy—in the wrong state. Collins, 73, who has represented Maine in the Senate for nearly 30 years, was the subject of campaign ads mistakenly aired in Portland, …

    Read at The Daily Beast (opens in a new tab)
  • The New York TimesLeft

    Anti-Troy Jackson Ad Runs in Oregon, Not Maine

    An executive with the Republican super PAC that paid for the ad attacking Mr. Jackson, the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, blamed its vendor for the mistake.

    Read at The New York Times (opens in a new tab)
  • The Washington PostLeft

    Voters in Portland (Oregon) get ads meant for Portland (Maine)

    The ad buyer admitted the mistake and refunded the money to the political group that ordered it.

    Read at The Washington Post (opens in a new tab)
  • The New RepublicFar Left

    GOP Group Spends Thousands to Help Susan Collins—in Wrong Portland

    A Republican Super PAC sent at least $20,000 to Portland, Oregon, in support of Senator Susan Collins’s re-election campaign. Collins is a senator from Maine. …

    Read at The New Republic (opens in a new tab)
  • The InterceptFar Left

    Susan Collins-Aligned Super PAC Buys Attack Ads in Portland... Oregon

    The group Defending Main Street, long associated with Susan Collins, spent thousands attacking Troy Jackson in the wrong state.

    Read at The Intercept (opens in a new tab)

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • the mix-up
  • the super PAC’s vendor error
See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • The HillCenter

    Pro-Collins ads target wrong Portland in GOP super PAC mix-up

    Pro-Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) ads appeared to target the wrong city of Portland in a GOP super PAC mix-up, running ads in Oregon instead of Maine. …

    Read at The Hill (opens in a new tab)

From the right

3 outlets

Leads with

  • the accidental wrong-state ad
  • the PAC’s attack on Troy Jackson
  • the vendor refund
See the 3 headlines from the rightHide the headlines

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    The Intercept, Oct 12, 12:49 PM EDT

  • Center

    3 hr 31 min later

    Its first report, Oct 12, 4:20 PM EDT

  • Right

    2 hr 13 min later

    Its first report, Oct 12, 3:01 PM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. The InterceptFar LeftOct 12, 12:49 PM EDT
  2. Washington ExaminerRightOct 12, 3:01 PM EDT
  3. The New RepublicFar LeftOct 12, 3:16 PM EDT
  4. The Washington PostLeftOct 12, 3:57 PM EDT
  5. The HillCenterOct 12, 4:20 PM EDT
  6. The New York TimesLeftOct 12, 4:48 PM EDT
  7. The Daily BeastFar LeftOct 12, 5:23 PM EDT
  8. The IndependentLeftOct 12, 8:02 PM EDT
  9. The Western JournalFar RightOct 13, 9:01 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out. Just the News gave only a date, so it is not placed.

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