Some of the other critiques of Trump such as “race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot” are left to Sen. Lindsey Graham and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who calls him a fraud.

Collins made waves in early August when she announced she would not endorse Trump because he “does not reflect historical Republican values.” The announcement put Maine’s senior senator on a growing list of elected Republicans who came out publicly against Trump. Collins had to have known that her words would be repeated loudly and widely and probably, now that this ad is up, extensively through Election Day.

A spokeswoman for Collins told the Bangor Daily News this morning that Collins did not authorize the use of her words or image in the ad and reiterated that Collins will not vote for Trump or Clinton.

What’s the state of the presidential race less than two months out? Funny you should ask. New poll results from the Morning Consult, which surveyed about 1,710 likely voters Sept. 6-8, found Clinton still with the edge against Trump nationally, 41 percent to 39 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson tallied 10 percent with Green candidate Jill Stein with 3 percent.

Among registered voters, the margins were essentially the same, with Clinton and Trump at 38 percent and 36 percent, respectively. You can read deeper into the poll results by clicking here.

As you know, national-level polls are of limited help, other than feeding your insatiable desire to know exactly the status of the presidential race. For that, however, you’re better off looking at state-level polls, particularly in battleground states. I’ll save you the suspense: The presidential race is tightening regardless of how you look at it.

Considering the bad weekend Clinton just had — including her dismissive comments about “half” of Trump’s supporters being “deplorable” and her having to leave a 9/11 ceremony Sunday with pneumonia, which will only fuel Trump supporters’ speculating about her health — the numbers are likely to draw even closer.