Person of Interest

The GOP's Lone Health Reformer

Olympia Snowe catches heat from all sides.

Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe is the only member of Congress from her party who supports the Obama administration's health-care reform, and for that, at this fleeting moment, she might be the most powerful woman in Washington, D.C. Her position could make it easier for Obama to win over Blue Dog Democrats, and she could even potentially be the 60th vote for Dems in the event of a Republican filibuster attempt to squash the bill–possibilities that make the rest of her party cringe. On the other hand, Snowe has won concessions from the White House and its allies, slowing the debate and narrowing the scope of the legislation. And so she's carved out a lonely spot in the capitol, a place with fewer GOP moderates these days: "I'd rather have company," she tells the Los Angeles Times. "But it's a different political world we're in... Most people represent either red states or blue states."