Establishment consultants have taken over the Maine Senate campaign of Democrat Troy Jackson, pushing him to soften his positions — bad news for progressives hoping for an independent voice, good news for party leaders.

• Internal campaign documents coach Jackson to avoid calling Gaza a genocide and to deflect with "senseless violence" language instead.
• He is also told to distance himself from Graham Platner, whom he replaced, and to smooth over his refusal to back Chuck Schumer as leader.
• The consultants come from a string of losing campaigns, and stand to collect enormous fees from the race.
• Jackson, a logger and former state Senate president with a working-class background, has started producing garbled answers at town halls — and is now being advised to stop holding them.
• The apparent goal is to make sure he arrives in Washington as a reliable party vote rather than a populist.

Outlook: With ballots going out within weeks, expect Jackson to keep hedging on Israel and party leadership while his original supporters grow more frustrated.