Word: republicanisms
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...weeks and months to come, Snowe and Collins can expect to be lavished with even more attention from the White House. Those two Maine moderates, plus Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter, provided the margin that prevented Republicans from holding Barack Obama's stimulus package hostage to a filibuster. They also represent the sum total to date of Obama's claim of bipartisan support for his economic plans in Congress...
...what makes Snowe and Collins more powerful now is that they, along with Specter, are nearly the last survivors of a once common species of moderate Northeastern Republican. As the GOP's center of gravity moves to the right, the Democratic majority has fewer and fewer potential crossovers to choose from. That gives each woman enormous leverage in a Senate Republican caucus whose leaders cannot afford any defections if they are to sustain a filibuster. Both sides know that the math on any close vote is likely to come down to Snowe and Collins...
...Which is just what their constituents in Maine like and expect from their Senators. The state has a tradition of flinty Yankee independence that dates back to another Republican Senator, Margaret Chase Smith, who in 1950 issued her famous Declaration of Conscience against McCarthyism - with Senator Joe McCarthy sitting only three seats behind her in the chamber. Maine doesn't bend easily to the prevailing political winds. Locals take a perverse pride in the fact that no other state has voted more consistently for the loser in modern presidential elections. And while they voted for Obama last fall...
...Problem was, the House Democrats weren't resolved. Their initial hesitancy to sign on reflected their frustration at the cuts to state aid and education dollars that were made to woo the crucial votes of three Republican Senators as well as moderate Democrats. Three hours and a few tweaks later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally announced her support. "We're having a very - shall we say - highly spirited caucus right now, people's spirits are high," Pelosi said, emerging from a meeting of House Democrats. "They're very proud of the work that we did in the House to create...
...bill is expected to draw at least a few GOP votes in the House, reflecting just how far to the center the measure has moved in passing the Senate. The final cost, $789 billion, is well below the $800 billion ceiling that the three Republicans and a group of 15 centrist Senate Democrats had demanded in exchange for their support. Even so, House Republicans complained bitterly about being left out of the process. "Some have said that we don't want to see anything done. Nothing could be further from the truth," said Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House...