Maine moderate endorses Massachusetts moderate
When you look at the voting patterns of outgoing Maine Senator Olympia Snowe and
Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown her endorsement of him makes sense because they represent an endangered breed of moderate New England Republicans. Snowe noted this in her endorsement, praising Brown for what she called his "independent spirit and bipartisan outlook." Their reputations as moderates are backed up by a Washington Post evaluation that shows they have nearly identical voting records:
- Brown votes with his party 73%
- Snowe votes with her party 74%
Voting with your party over 70% of the time may sound like partisanship but in the modern Senate this is as good as it gets for bipartisan voting records. WaPo concludes that Brown is the fourth most moderate senator while Snowe is fifth. Nevada Senator Dean Heller tops the list for breaking with his party the most but his voting record is less than a year old and is an extreme outlier. Senator Suasn Collins of Maine votes with her party 71% of the time putting her ahead of Brown and her fellow Mainer Snowe.
The same evaluation concludes that Senator John Kerry has voted with his party 97% of the time.
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