Since the Platner scandal first broke into national headlines, the story has grown steadily darker — and the primary is now days away. Here's where things stand as of June 5.

Collins Pulls Even at 46%

A poll by Republican firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, conducted on behalf of the pro-Collins Pine Tree Results PAC and first reported by Politico, shows Sen. Susan Collins and Platner each drawing 46% support among likely Maine likely voters, with 8% undecided.

Back in January, only 29% of respondents held an unfavorable view of Platner. That number has now climbed to 49% unfavorable, according to the NY Post. His net favorability has turned negative — 40% favorable against 49% unfavorable.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said Platner's sexting activity on the app Kik — admitted by Platner himself in a Thursday interview with MS NOW — would make them less likely to vote for him.

Caveat: this poll was commissioned by a pro-Collins PAC. But even a partisan poll with a 10-point swing in unfavorables over five months reflects something real.

The poll was completed before the New York Times published its physical abuse story Thursday. Whatever numbers come next could be worse.

The Times Story — and What Wasn't in It

The New York Times published a report Thursday in which former girlfriends of Platner described a pattern of misogynistic behavior and physical intimidation. The main source was Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Platner on and off from 2013 to 2015.

According to the Daily Signal, Fifield told the Times that Platner regularly grabbed her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave marks. During one argument, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and held the door closed from the outside so she couldn't leave. She fell asleep and left the next morning.

That detail — the physical restraint in the bedroom — doesn't appear until paragraph 22 of the Times story, according to the Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett, who knows Fifield personally.

Burying the most serious physical allegation deep in a long story minimizes its impact.

The Accuser Says the Times Spiked the Worst of It

Fieldfield went further. According to the NY Post and Fox News, early Friday she accused the Times of removing several damning accusations — including allegations of sexual assault — before publication. She called the edited version a "gift" to Platner's campaign.

The Times has NOT publicly responded to Fifield's specific claim that sexual assault allegations were removed.

The Daily Caller's editor-in-chief Amber Duke and Daily Signal correspondent Tony Kinnett both called out the Times for how it handled the story. Kinnett said directly: if this were a Republican or a conservative Supreme Court nominee, the coverage would look completely different.

Fieldfield's on-record accusation that her own words were softened by the paper of record is significant. A primary source is contradicting the publication that interviewed her.

Platner Confirms Sexting, Denies Physical Abuse

In his MS NOW interview Thursday, Platner confirmed he sent explicit messages to other women on Kik while married. He denied the physical abuse allegations from the Times report as "just not true," according to the NY Post.

Fieldfield is on the record. Platner is denying it.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Is Still In

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) donated $10,000 to Platner's campaign and has defended him as the allegations mounted, per earlier reporting. He has not reversed course.

Whitehouse has not been asked publicly whether the Times' physical abuse story — or Fifield's accusation that the Times suppressed even worse allegations — changes his position.

The Scott Galloway Problem

Professor and podcaster Scott Galloway told the Breitbart-hosted Alex Marlow Show that Platner gets a "hall pass" on his Totenkopf S.S. tattoo — a symbol of the Nazi SS — because of his military service. His exact words: "if he gets drunk one night and gets a stupid tattoo... he gets a hall pass."

Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow pointed out the obvious: Platner never removed the tattoo over the following 20 years. That's not a drunk mistake. That's a choice, repeated daily for two decades.

Galloway is Jewish and entitled to his own calculus. But his framing — that the tattoo is a forgivable night-of lapse — doesn't survive the basic math of 20 years of continued wear.

Where This Stands

A Democratic Senate candidate in a competitive race has admitted to sexting a dozen women while married. His ex-girlfriend is on the record describing physical restraint and arm-twisting. The reporter she trusted says her sexual assault allegations were edited out of the story before it ran. His major financial backer is still defending him. His party's prominent figures are either silent or dodging.

The primary is days away.

Mainstream left-leaning outlets have been largely absent from this story or have covered it minimally. That absence is itself a story.

Maine voters are about to make a decision. They deserve the unedited version — not the one the Times apparently chose to publish.