Another new poll shows that U.S. Rep. Tom Allen has closed the gap between he and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in the Nov. 4 Senate election.

Rasmussen Reports, a national independent polling firm, finds that Collins is leading Allen by 53 percent to 43 percent, a 10-point margin that is down from a 13-point lead last month and a 15-point lead in August.

The Rasmussen trend echoes that of a poll released Monday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. That poll reported that Collins' lead over Allen had shrunk to 8 percentage points, with the Republican senator ahead by 49 percent to 41 percent.

Collins is one of several Republican senators who are losing support as a result of concerns over the economy, Rasmussen says. The firm says Republican senate seats in Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia are now at risk.

In Maine, Allen, a Democrat, has the support of 80 percent of his party and 3 percent of Republicans, while Collins has the support of 94 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats, the poll found. Unenrolled voters back Collins, 55 percent to 37 percent.

The Maine poll was conducted by telephone last Thursday. It involved 500 likely voters and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, at a 95 percent confidence level.

Anyone who has been cornered and guilted into buying Girl Scout cookies or anything for a school fundraiser knows it's hard to say no to a little kid.

So how do you brush off a kid asking if you've done your patriotic duty?

Ralph Nader, perennial independent presidential candidate, will be in Maine tonight, speaking at the First Parish Church in Portland.

In a telephone interview, Nader said one of his prime talking points will be Congress's $700 billion effort last week to save the nation's flailing financial system and his plan to tax Wall Street to pay for it.

Nader said he views U.S. taxpayers as shareholders who should be repaid for their rescue investment and receive dividends.

"We'll talk about the bailout and what went wrong on Wall Street," he said. "We'd give control to the taxpayers and the company they own."

He said he'll also talk about every citizen's right to earn a living wage and the need to end the war in Iraq.

If elected, he said, he plans to fight poverty and corporate crime and promote consumer protection, alternative energy and workplace safety.

"According to OSHA, 58,000 people in the United States die each year because of workplace-related disease and trauma," Nader said. "We need to stop that."

The event starts at 7:30 p.m. The church is located at 425 Congress St., near Portland City Hall and the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.