Why not Maine?
One thing everyone, in and outside of Maine, seems to agree on is, barring a miracle equivalent in magnitude to the parting of the Red Sea, Olympia Snowe will be reelected to the Senate this year. To which I say: Why?
According to the latest Survey USA report, in only two states, Massachusetts and New Jersey, is George W. Bush more unpopular than he is in Maine, where he clocks in with a whopping 28 percent favorable rating, against 71 percent unfavorable. And the fact is, even more than with some of the other so-called moderate GOP senators, Olympia Snowe has been carrying George W. Bush’s water ever since he came into office.
Sure, she talks a good moderate game; and every now and then she actually casts a “maverick” vote; but as many others have pointed out, like all the self-proclaimed Senate Republican “moderates,” Snowe’s anti-Bush votes almost always come when her vote doesn’t really matter. When the chips are down, George W. Bush can always count on Olympia Snowe.
The most obvious recent example, of course, was the way she caved into White House pressure to help kill the proposed congressional investigation into Bush’s warrantless domestic spying. As Think Progress neatly summed it up at the time:
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) talked a big game about standing on principle and demanding a congressional investigation of Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance. Snowe, 12/21/05: Revelations that the U.S. government has conducted domestic electronic surveillance without express legal authority indeed warrants Congressional examination. I believe the Congress - as a coequal branch of government - must immediately and expeditiously review the use of this practice. * * * Yesterday, when it counted, both Senators folded. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a motion to start an investigation. Snowe and Hagel, after an intense lobbying campaign by Vice President Cheney, sided with Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and voted to adjourn the committee without even considering Rockefeller’s motion. The motion to adjourn passed on a party-line vote. Actions speak louder than words.And I know that at least some people in Maine are aware of Snowe’s con game. I recently spoke on the telephone with my 84-year-old father, a Maine resident, though admittedly a strong Democrat, and without any prompting from me he said, “Snowe talks a good game of being a moderate, but when it comes to actually voting she always backs Bush.” “So do you think there’s any chance of beating her,” I asked Dad. “Probably not.” And he’s probably right, at least by default. I can see no evidence that the national Democratic Party is targeting the race at all. And I’m sorry, but I just don’t get it. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith was once thought to be an unbeatable icon in Maine, but in 1972 she was defeated by Democratic Congressman William Hathaway, and that happened back before Maine became dependably Democratic in presidential elections. Now, there were special issues at play with Smith, who was extremely elderly at the time and had become badly out of touch with the state; but it does highlight the indisputable fact that in the right election year, even untouchables can sometimes fall. Given how unpopular Bush is in the Vacation State, it’s hard for me to believe that a well financed campaign built around unmasking Snowe as the closest Bush bagwoman she is, wouldn’t have the potential to cut seriously into her considerable popularity, putting the seat into play. And putting seats into play is the key to the Democrats retaking Congress.
