Snowe to Begin Reelection in Coming Months
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2004 – Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, will begin her reelection campaign in earnest in the coming months despite speculation by some that she may not run for reelection in 2006.
“I can tell you unequivocally that she is running again,” said Snowe’s chief of staff John Richter. Snowe herself was unavailable for comment.
Even so, Democrats and Republicans alike still point to Snowe’s fundraising activities as reasons why the retirement rumor persists. Just after Snowe ran for reelection in 2000, she had approximately $447,000 in campaign funds in the bank.
Now, four years later, Snowe has less money in the bank, not more, with $391,000. “That’s what hints toward retirement, frankly,” said a Democratic strategist who closely follows Senate races nationwide but asked not to be identified. Her coffers should be filling, not emptying or even staying even, he said, especially given her political stature.
It’s almost like she’s “trying not to raise money,” he said.
According to the same strategist, having such a low cash balance could leave her vulnerable to “self-funded” candidates or to candidates who could raise roughly that same amount with relatively little difficulty.
Maine Democratic Party chairwoman Dottie Melanson said that despite the speculation that Snowe would not run, in the end, the rumor “has not been substantiated at all.” As a result, the party will begin thinking sometime in the early part of next year about possible Democratic challengers to run against her.
Snowe will have to raise more than $2 million in the next two years to get to her 2000 fundraising level of $2.5 million. That’s an average $2,700 to raise per day. Toward that goal, Snowe recently hired a campaign fundraiser.
Professor Sandy Maisel, director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement at Colby College, said, “That’s not a lot to start with,” but others contend that it may be enough because media buys in Maine tend to be inexpensive and Snowe already has high name recognition.
Rep. Tom Allen, the state’s senior congressman, has almost as much money as Snowe, with $361,000 in the bank despite having just finished an election campaign.
Stuart Rothenberg, a political analyst for CNN and author of the Rothenberg Political Report, said Snowe was close to reaching the status of “political icon in the state” and had few liabilities other than her being from a state where Republicans typically face a harder time than Democrats.
“She’s a red-party politician in a blue state,” he said. Nonetheless, he said. Snowe’s reputation for independence and her long political career made serious opposition unlikely. “She’s seen to be in a very solid position for reelection,” he said.
Rothenberg said a Democratic operative told him he hoped Democrats would mount some serious opposition, not to defeat Snowe – which the operative did not think could be done — but “as a way of getting the party energized” to make a serious bid to defeat Sen. Susan Collins, in 2008, which was more of a “four-year plan,” Rothenberg said.
Assuming that Snowe runs, someone will have to run against her, and Melanson insisted that the Democrats will be putting up a serious challenger.
Amy Fried, a political science professor at the University of Maine, echoed what many said in interviews – that Democrats will be hard pressed to find someone with enough influence to take Snowe on.
“I think it’s going to be hard to attract many strong candidates,” said Fried, adding that nobody seems to be jockeying for the position – at least not yet.
In her first reelection effort in 2000, Snowe defeated state Senate President Mark Lawrence, by 69-31 percent. She was first elected to the Senate in 1994..
If Snowe were to decide not to run, her Senate seat would instantly be thrown into contention, with the state’s top Democrats – Reps. Allen and Michael Michaud and Gov. John Baldacci – the most logical contenders.
None of them has publicly expressed interest in the job, and the offices of both Allen and Michaud declined comment.
Monica Castellanos, Michaud’s press secretary, said Michaud hadn’t given the race any thought and was preparing for the new Congress that begins in January. “We’re focused on doing the job he was elected to do just last month,” she said.
