Super PAC launches $250,000 campaign defending Susan Collins on government shutdown

• The ad buys are big and they are early.

Driving the news: Majority Forward, a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy group affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), was the first to air a shutdown ad in Maine, accusing Collins of wanting "to shut down the government."

• The new GOP digital spot from Stronger Maine, its first ad this cycle, is a direct response to the Schumer broadside.
• "Chuck Schumer is at it again. Running false ads against Senator Collins," the narrator says. "The truth: Chuck Schumer shut down the government. Susan Collins is fighting to open it."

Zoom out: There are so many super PACs and 501(c)(4) groups in Maine, it's difficult to keep them separate.

• On the pro-Collins super PAC side, in addition to Stronger Maine, there's also Pine Tree Results, which raised $5.6 million in the first half of the year.
• Also in Collins' corner is Stronger America, an issue advocacy 501(c)(4) organization that has spent or reserved nearly $1.87 million in September and October, according to AdImpact.

• Democrats have a $970,000 buy in Maine from Majority Forward, according to AdImpact. Majority Forward is organized as a 501(c)(4) but has ties to a Schumer-affiliated super PAC.

Zoom in: The race in Maine is expected to get more complicated when Gov. Janet Mills jumps into the Democratic primary. Axios reported Tuesday that it's likely to happen this month.

• But the Democratic field is crowded, and progressive Graham Platner is drawing large crowds.