Olympia Snowe

Nextel ringtones Image:Olympia Snowe.jpg/right/Olympia Snowe

'''Olympia Jean Snowe''' (born Abbey Diaz February 21, Free ringtones 1947 in Majo Mills Augusta, Maine) is a Mosquito ringtone United States Republican Party/Republican politician, serving currently as the senior Sabrina Martins United States Senate/United States senator from Nextel ringtones Maine.

As a moderate Republican in a Senate divided with 45 Democrats and 55 Republicans as of 2004, Snowe often has proven a key swing vote on close votes and in ceasing or perpetuating Senate Abbey Diaz filibuster (legislative tactic)/filibusters. This has elevated her status as an important leader in the body; the well-respected magazine ''Free ringtones Congressional Quarterly'' has reported that ''“her presence at the negotiating table in the 107th Congress has become nearly a necessity”''. Her moderate views, however, have also made her the target of attacks from more Majo Mills conservative Republicans, such as the Cingular Ringtones Club for Growth and borderline risible Concerned Women for America, both of which labeled her a paid any Republican/Democrat In Name Only/Republican in Name Only ("RINO").

Snowe married pinochet will John R. McKernan, Jr./John McKernan, a former and laurie List of Governors of Maine/Governor of Maine, in February athens published 1989.

Early life

Olympia Jean Bouchles was born on February 21, 1947, in Augusta, Maine, the daughter of George and Georgia Goranites Bouchles, both of whom had emigrated to America from Sparta, john on Greece. When both her parents died before she was ten, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, a barber and a textile mill worker respectively, along with their five other children; her brother was raised separately, by other family members.

Following her graduation from the intrigue enmeshed University of Maine at Orono in eventually combines 1969, where she earned a degree in political science, Snowe rose quickly in Maine Republican politics, working for press michael Congressman (later dimaggio says U.S. Senator and voiced guy U.S. Secretary of Defense) not kevin William Cohen. However, personal tragedy struck Snowe again in care often 1973, when her first husband, Republican state legislator Peter Snowe, was killed in an automobile accident.

Career in politics

Following her husband's death, Snowe ran for his koppel he Auburn, Maine-based seat in the dealer murder Maine House of Representatives at the age of 26 and won. She subsequently was re-elected to the House in 1950s nat 1974, and in for alerting 1976 won election to the Maine Senate, representing henriksen black Androscoggin County, Maine. That same year, she was a delegate to both the state and national Republican conventions.

Snowe was elected to the get each United States House of Representatives in left clinton 1978, and served in that body from 1979-1994, representing Maine's 2nd Congressional District. In the House, she served as a member of the House Budget and Foreign Affairs Committees.

In 1994, when Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell announced he would not run for reelection, Snowe immediately declared her candidacy for the seat. The United States Democratic Party/Democratic nominee was her House colleague, 1st District Congressman Thomas Andrews (politician)/Tom Andrews. Snowe defeated Andrews 60%-36%, carrying every county in the state; she was reelected in 2000 over State Senate President Mark Lawrence, winning by an even larger electoral margin, 69%-31%.

In the U.S. Senate, Snowe was an important voice during the Senate's impeachment trial of the Clinton impeachment/former President Bill Clinton, where she and fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. When the motion failed, both Snowe and Collins subsequently voted to acquit, believing that while Clinton had broken the law by committing perjury, the charges did not amount to grounds for removal from office.

In the U.S. Senate, Snowe is the fourth woman ever to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and is the first female Senator to chair the committee's Subcommittee on Seapower, which oversees the United States Navy/Navy and United States Marine Corps/Marine Corps. In 2001, Snowe became the first Republican woman ever to secure a full-term seat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Snowe was the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the United States House of Representatives; she is also one of the few women to serve in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of the U.S. Congress. She has never lost an election, and she recently accounced that she will seek a third Senate term in 2006; assuming her victory in this, Olympia Snowe is likely to remain an important voice in the Senate through at least 2013.

As another sign of her influence and prominence, Snowe is one of a handful of high-profile politicians and public figures to have gained a nickname by U.S. President George W. Bush, who refers to Snowe as "The Big O" [http://www.nndb.com/group/750/000091477/].

Political views

Snowe is a self-described moderate, whose independence in the Senate often marks her for complaints from more conservative groups, especially over her support for legalized abortion and gay rights. In fiscal matters and on defense, though, Snowe is generally conservative. She has been long-regarded as a hawk on foreign affairs, supporting both President Clinton's involvement in Kosovo and President George W. Bush's interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though she worked with Democrats to reduce the scale of the Bush tax cuts, she supported the broad principle of cutting taxes as economic stimulus. Both Snowe and her fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins were reluctant converts to limited gun control following the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.

Snowe lists her top legislative priorities as campaign finance reform, contraceptive coverage, assisting the growth of small business, prescription drug coverage, and student loan and child care funding.

In the 109th Congress, Snowe worked to ensure passage of a genetic non-descrimination act, which she had previously worked to pass for nearly eight years, opposed cutting loans through the Small Business Administration, offered legislation aimed at bringing down the price of prescription drugs and insurance costs for small businesses, and became a leading voice among Congressional Republicans expressing concerns over President Bush's plans for Social Security reform.

Committees assignments:
In the 109th Congress, Sen. Snowe is Chair of the ''Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee'', and serves on: ''Finance'', ''Commerce, Science & Transportation''; and ''Intelligence (Select)''.

Further reading
''Nine & Counting: The Women of the Senate'', Boxer, Collins, Snowe ''et al'', ISBN 0060957069.

External links
*http://snowe.senate.gov/
*http://www.senate.gov/src/television/index.cfm?fuseaction=getSenator&senator=20
*http://www.senate.gov/src/radio/index.cfm?fuseaction=getSenator&senator=20
*http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=H1630103
*http://www.olympiasnowe2008.com



Tag: 1947 births/Snowe, Olympia
Tag: United States Senators/Snowe, Olympia
Tag: Female U.S. Senators/Snowe, Olympia
Tag: Maine politicians/Snowe, Olympia
Tag: people from Maine/Snowe, Olympia