Blind GOP Drove Specter Away: Snowe

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich’s take on Arlen Specter’s defection? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, senator. Specter left the party “in spirit” when he cast his vote for “a $787 billion big-spending bill no elected official had even read,” the former speaker tells the Washington Post. His official defection “is a function of personal survival,” and will ultimately make the party look better. More»

Maine senator's yes on health reform isn't first time breaking with the party

(NEWSER) - Today’s committee vote for a key health-reform measure isn’t the first time Sen. Olympia Snowe has broken with fellow Republicans—and leads Laurie Kellman to call her, and not former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP’s real maverick. Snowe also voted for President Obama’s stimulus package, Kellman notes for the AP, and against President Bush on bill extending health coverage for kids. More»

She provides crucial Republican support for Obama's overhaul

(AP) - Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Obama's top legislative priority. The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate today. "When history calls, history calls," she said, adding that she continued to have reservations. More»

(NEWSER) - There are a few in the conservative camp who the Obama administration respects. “By respect, I mean, quite simply, the degree to which the White House responds to their worries and needs and believes that the time spent responding is useful and necessary,” Marc Ambinder writes in the Atlantic. Here’s a list of six:

• The Maine senators: "On major issues where a 60-vote supermajority is needed for cloture," Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are "the only Republicans who matter."

Club for Growth backs unelectable righties, say some in GOP

(NEWSER) - Some in the GOP have had it with the Club for Growth, an organization that identifies Republicans it deems weak on low-tax, small-government values, the Wall Street Journal reports. Party members argue that the Club backs Republicans too far right to win elections. “If their goal is to increase the Democrats’ numbers in Congress, they’re doing a very good job,” says a GOP congressman. More»