In many ways Maine represents something going on in the Republican Party, the chasing out of moderates. The incumbent Senator was Olympia Snowe, a very popular Republican, despite Maine's blue nature.
Snowe was eager to pursue bi-partisan measures and was always prepared to compromise with Democrats. For this reason Time magazine rated her as one of the top 10 US Senators. During her tenure she voted for Obama's stimulus, against Bush's 2003 tax cuts and voted to end the filibuster of Obamacare which led to it becoming law. This put her at odds with the Tea Party, who pledged to primary her in the 2012 election. Eventually Snowe decided that she'd had enough and announced she would not be running for re-election. She cited the hyper-partisanship leading to a dysfunctional congress as the reason she was retiring.
So the Tea Party drove Snowe out of the Senate. Snowe had won re-election in 2006 with 74% of the vote. If they hadn't driven her out, she would have almost certainly won re-election. Instead the seat is now held by Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
Snowe was eager to pursue bi-partisan measures and was always prepared to compromise with Democrats. For this reason Time magazine rated her as one of the top 10 US Senators. During her tenure she voted for Obama's stimulus, against Bush's 2003 tax cuts and voted to end the filibuster of Obamacare which led to it becoming law. This put her at odds with the Tea Party, who pledged to primary her in the 2012 election. Eventually Snowe decided that she'd had enough and announced she would not be running for re-election. She cited the hyper-partisanship leading to a dysfunctional congress as the reason she was retiring.
So the Tea Party drove Snowe out of the Senate. Snowe had won re-election in 2006 with 74% of the vote. If they hadn't driven her out, she would have almost certainly won re-election. Instead the seat is now held by Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
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| Olympia Snowe epitomises the exodus of moderates from the Republican Party. source: www.dailykos.com |
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