Olympia Snowe has long been considered a Blue Republican, one of the very few who is willing to reach across party lines on certain issues, and go against her parties ideological objections when she feels strongly enough about a subject.
Her willingness to buck the Republican bigwigs is so well known that earlier in the year, there were rumors that Snowe would join former Republican Arlen Spector in changing her party affiliation to the Democrats.
Snowe’s vote in the Senate Finance Committee itself was less important on it’s face than it is symbolically. Her vote allowed the Democrats win the vote 14-9 instead of 13-10. But there is bound to be a protracted floor fight about this reform, and almost assuredly many attempts at a filibuster by the Republicans.
With some conservative Democrats unwilling to say whether or not they would vote to block a filibuster, Snowe being on the side of the reform could be a huge boon to the Democratic leadership.
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