Senator Olympia Snowe, Healthcare and the National Press

Washington Post - As Health Vote Nears, Fellow Lawmakers Wonder Where Snowe Will Fall
Excerpt:
"Everyone on Capitol Hill is wondering how Sen. Olympia J. Snowe will vote on the Senate Finance Committee's health-care reform bill once the big day arrives, likely within the next week.

The Maine Republican is the only member of her party considered to be a serious conversion prospect. But although Snowe supported Democrats on many key amendments during the committee's two-week debate on the legislation, she's being cryptic about her intentions -- to say the least.

"Did they get in my brain yet?" she wondered of all the speculators, during a lengthy conversation Tuesday afternoon with reporters. "They've got me voting yes, preserving my leverage. Voting no, preserving my leverage. It's all about what I'm comfortable doing at the end of the day.""

Business Week - Snowe is the woman with clout on health care
Excerpt:
"They call her "President Snowe" in the blogosphere.


Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe is the only Republican in Congress who might vote for President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul health care and extend coverage to those who lack it. And that gives the unassuming, 62-year-old lawmaker almost as much power over the bill's fate -- and that of the millions of Americans it would affect -- as the big guy himself.

Which is why Snowe's cell phone has lit up with a particular phone number at odd times over the past year, once on the Maine coast as she and her husband drove past a field near their home at Hancock Point."

By Robert Reich - Snowe can save healthcare reform by voting against it - Salon.com
Excerpt:
"How is it that a decision next week by a single senator from Maine will almost certainly determine whether America's future healthcare system is still in the hands of private for-profit insurance companies and Big Pharma or enables more Americans to get better healthcare at lower cost? Bear with me, because you need to know what's likely to happen if she signs on, and if she doesn't. The next few weeks are crucial."