The Moderate
Centrists are flexing their muscles in the U.S. Senate. But stopping the closing of military bases in Maine ? and the loss of 7,000 jobs ? might be the ultimate test of Senator Susan Collins? political clout.
By Jeff Clark
SENATOR Susan Collins has two receptionists in her offices in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., and on this bright spring day both of them are having trouble keeping up with the phones. The appointment of John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is on the Senate schedule, and Collins is considered a swing vote. Bolton supporters and opponents have been placing ads on Maine television stations urging viewers to call.For Collins, it's the curse of being a modern rarity, a moderate Republican - and these days one with an increasingly high profile.
