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Two years ago, Barack Obama and congressional Democrats rode a wave of voter disenchantment into power. Many Republicans, even in some traditional strongholds, were swept aside. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was an exception. She didn’t defeat Democrat Tom Allen. She trounced him, 61-39 percent of the vote, a landslide victory political analysts attributed to Collins’ popularity with moderates, a standing shared by her Maine colleague, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, also a Republican. Two years later, the same moderate image that protected Collins from the blue wave could make Snowe vulnerable to the red one advanced by the tea party....

I didn't meet Sarah Palin during my year in Alaska. That's no surprise. She resigned as governor before I arrived in the state and was seldom there during my year teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. But no matter where she was, Palin was a major focus of discussion everywhere I went. Would she run for president? How rich has she become? Would Bristol marry Levi -- and should she? What's Todd doing these days? And, as Palin began to involve herself in this years' campaigns, the conversation was about how much her endorsement mattered. That was certainly true...

$150,000 MoneyBomb For Joe Miller - U.S. Senate   Part of an email from Tea Party Express, OurCountryPAC: We are trying to do a MoneyBomb to raise $150,000 - $250,000 by Monday evening so we can keep buying more TV, more cable, more radio and last minute newspaper and Internet ads.

President Barack Obama and his allies in the Senate have won a key vote to advance a bill to help states and local school boards with their severe budget problems...Moderate Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins cast the key votes to break the GOP filibuster.

There has been much talk recently about whether Republicans and Democrats in Washington can produce a bipartisan clean-energy and jobs bill. The answer is: We already have. We are leading a bipartisan effort to put a lid on carbon pollution and in so doing unleash a massive investment in clean-energy technology. If we can tackle this issue in a predictable, transparent and free-market way, we can create millions of high-paying jobs while limiting the worst effects of climate change and reducing both our dependence on foreign oil and the risk of another oil spill. We have authored a bill that...

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The Senate approved new far-reaching financial rules on Thursday aimed at preventing the risky behavior and regulatory failures that brought the economy to the brink of collapse two years ago and cost millions of Americans their jobs and savings. The bill passed by a vote of 59 to 39, with four Republicans joining a majority of Democrats in supporting it. The 1,500-page measure, shepherded through the Senate by Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, seeks to reshape both Washington and Wall Street. (snip) They successfully courted Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine,...

Maine Republican Susan Collins said Thursday she does not foresee a Republican filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but she’s withholding judgment on her own vote until after the summer hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And in a statement that may further bolster the prospects for Kagan’s confirmation, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), a potential swing vote, said he was comfortable with Kagan’s explanation of Havard’s ban on military recruiters at the Law School.

Tea Party Patriots in Maine turnout to show support for Senator Collins and Snowe standing strong against the new Democrat government takeover bank bailout scheme.

Sen. Collins pledges to block Democratic Wall Street bill By Alexander Bolton - 04/19/10 04:19 PM ET Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced after meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday that she will vote to filibuster a Democratic Wall Street reform bill. Her announcement hurts Democratic chances of moving financial reform legislation through the Senate this week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week that he planned to bring the legislation to the floor this week, but Collins’s stance means that Democrats will likely not have the 60 votes needed to begin floor debate. Collins said she...

"This administration cannot see a foreign terrorist even when he stands right in front of them." Yes my friends, that came from the mouth of MS Maine, our Northeastern RHINO, Susan Collins. She continued, “President Obama recently used the phrase that ‘we are at war’ with terrorists. But unfortunately his rhetoric does not match the actions of his administration. The Obama administration appears to have a blind spot when it comes to the War on Terrorism. And, because of that blindness, this administration cannot see a foreign terrorist even when he stands right in front of them, fresh from an...

In the Republicans weekly address.Conservatives often give Sen. Susan Collins grief for her willingness to compromise with Democrats (but note that she joined all 39 other GOP Senators and voted AGAINST the Dem health bill and the increase in debt). Here, she comes out swinging hard on the sheer idiocy of the Obama Administration's handling of the Christmas Bomber. Let's give her a vote of thanks for getting this issue right! [VIDEO AT SITE] Valuable intelligence which might prevent the next attack has been lost. The next attack may be a direct result of the Obama Administration's decision to treat...

Maine Senator Susan Collins totally destroys Barack Obama over his administration's conduct of the war on terror in the Republican weekly radio address.Video hereNo need to elaborate. Read the text for a masterful take down of Obama.“Less than one hour. That’s right, less than one hour. “In fact, just fifty minutes.“That’s the amount of time that the FBI spent questioning Abdulmutallab, the foreign terrorist who tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. “Then, he was given a Miranda warning and a lawyer, and, not surprisingly, he stopped talking. “How did we get to this point? How did the...

Architects of competing Senate climate change plans met Tuesday as behind-the-scenes talks continue over legislation that advocates of greenhouse gas limits are struggling to keep alive in 2010. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are trying to craft a compromise climate and energy bill, and they met in the afternoon with Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Cantwell and Collins introduced a so-called cap-and-dividend approach in December. Kerry, Graham and Lieberman are hoping to blend emissions caps with energy provisions including expanded offshore drilling and new subsidies for nuclear power. “They [Cantwell and...

An already crowded field in this year's race for governor got even larger on Tuesday. Steve Abbott, who spent the last 12 years as chief of staff for Senator Susan Collins, threw his hat into the ring, joining six other republicans. Abbott, who grew up in Orono and now lives in Portland, says the state needs to get a handle on spending. One of the first things he'd do in office is order an audit of all state government spending.

"I don't see voting for the current bill that is on the floor, even with the improvements that have been made," Collins said. "I'm very leery of the impact of nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts, particularly the cuts in home health care, which are completely counterproductive to the goal of lowering costs." Collins explained that she is continuing to work on the bill not because she intends to vote for it but because, "I think something is going to pass, and I would like to make that bill as good as possible, even if ultimately it's not a bill...

Over the weekend, the Senate continued debate on its version of the government takeover of health care with Republican “unanimous consent” cooperation on floor procedure.   Democrats fell into a rhythm of voting down Republican amendments to jettison the half-trillion dollars worth of Medicare cuts while passing their own -- garnering Republican votes (at times 100-0) on their amendments for political cover. As early as today, they will begin consideration of an amendment to bar abortion funding by or through any government-run “public option” insurance plan. This issue still may be the one that kills the bill for the year. ...

Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way,” Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. “But we have to have a price on carbon,...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today argued against establishing a new cybersecurity coordinator position at the White House. Rather than have a new White House “cyber czar” oversee cybersecurity efforts, the Homeland Security Department should be given greater resources and authority to secure civilian networks, Collins said during a speech in Washington. She called for establishing a cybersecurity center at DHS with a “strong and empowered leader” who would also serve as principal cybersecurity adviser to the president. Under the government's overall computer security strategy, DHS is responsible for protecting...

HOUSE RACE: Maine senator attends rally to support Scozzafava. BY MARTHA ELLEN CANTON — More than 50 supporters of Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava's campaign for the 23rd Congressional District turned out Saturday at Phoebe's Restaurant to hear U.S. Sen. Susan K. Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., tell them she was the best candidate.