Maine Event

Dems Corner Snowe, Collins

Seek votes of two GOP senators for health care

Looking for a little breathing room, Democrats are targeting Maine's two centrist Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, hoping they can attract them to vote for the coming health-care reform bill. President Obama sent a member of his cabinet, former Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, to meet with Collins. On Saturday, the Senate passed a vote to move forward with the health-care debate along party lines, 60-39. “I have ruled out voting for this bill, but I still very much want to vote for a bill and that is why I am continuing to have discussions,” Collins told The New York Times. “I still cling to the belief that it is possible for a group of us to come together and rewrite the bill in a way that would cause it to have greater support.”