WASHINGTON – In the end, it was Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, who had a smile on her face, casting one of the 51 Senate votes for an economic recovery package that included tax cuts and a three-year suspension on taxes on stock dividends.

But for fellow Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, a close friend of former President George H.W. Bush who often stayed at his Kennebunkport retreat, there was no joy. She had been emblazoned across the front page of the New York Times recently for her squabbles with the current Bush in the White House, George W., and she was concerned about the faults in the new plan.

Snowe joined 45 Democrats, two other Republicans and one independent in voting “no” on the measure, which passed by a tight 51-49 vote.

The two Maine Senators, on one of the biggest votes of the year, had split.

Snowe said the bill cobbled together by Senate Republican leaders was flawed and “does not represent sound fiscal or economic policies.”

Snowe admitted she was pleased the amount of the tax cut was going to be restricted to $350 billion, but said the bill omitted most of the economic stimulus steps that she and several colleagues had tried to craft. Still, in the end, the colleagues backed the plan – she didn’t.

“I am concerned the Senate missed an opportunity to do more to provide the U.S. economy with the type of strong short-term stimulus we need to prevent a ‘jobless recovery,'” Snowe said Thursday evening. It was a divisive, short-term maneuver by conservative Republicans to impose a three-year dividend tax cut that proved to be the lynchpin for the vote.

Snowe labeled it a “risky, highly speculative” approach that would breed uncertainty with investors and the markets.

Collins, meanwhile, had moved successfully to get bipartisan support – the most bipartisan support of any major vote during the bill’s consideration – for an amendment to provide $20 billion in relief to states.

Collins’ amendment also eliminated double taxation of lawyer’s fees in discrimination suits and pushed up the expensing limits for small businesses, a pet project.

Helped by Snowe – and almost everyone else – Collins’ amendment passed by a 95-3 vote.

Collins spokeswoman, Megan Sowards, said the Senator was “very pleased” she was able to convince the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, of the merit of the state relief plan, and then to sway all but three members of the Senate.

“This is a major victory for her, since it wasn’t included in the president’s proposal or in the initial finance committee mark,” Sowards said, referring to the first outline of the tax plan drawn by Grassley. “In the end, she garnered broad support for the amendment. In addition to winning support for this top priority, she felt that the economic indicators demonstrated the need for a stimulus and, therefore, she voted for the bill.”

Snowe, in a post-vote assessment, took some credit for laying a foundation for the victory Collins secured. Snowe pointed out that she had worked in the Senate Finance Committee with Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to get Grassley’s support for the $20 billion fiscal relief package placeholder – a parliamentary maneuver that allowed the later Collins amendment to detail how it would work.

While publicly it looked like they were a bit at odds with each other, Snowe press secretary Elizabeth Wenk said behind the scenes the two Maine senators were ready for a smooth handoff of a crucial element of the package.

“State fiscal relief is crucial to stimulating the economy, as 46 of the 50 states – including Maine – are facing budget shortfalls due to lower than predicted revenues because of the depressed economy and September 11, increasing costs associated with federal mandates, and increasing health care costs,” Snowe said in a statement. “There is no question the federal government must provide fiscal relief – and this will go a long way toward stimulating growth in the economy.”

The Collins amendment that was approved on the Senate floor followed the Snowe placeholder, assigning $10 billion of the revenues to the Medicaid program to avert cuts. Had that not been done, more than 1.7 million Americans could have potentially lost their insurance coverage, Snowe said.

Less than a month ago, Collins was wavering on the need for any tax package and particularly for one that did not have state relief as a component. Collins agreed with Snowe that the initial $726 billion Bush plan was far too much, but pinning down a specific number wasn’t as important. And while the dividend proposal was not what the president wanted initially, Collins did not find it objectionable.

“She saw this as a stimulus package,” said Wenk. “She voted for it because she thinks it will stimulate the economy in Maine and elsewhere.”

However, the closeness of the vote signals that the overall plan may end up dying despite all the compromising that went on in the Senate. This was all that the Senate would go for, but the House-passed version of the bill was much more pro-Bush.

Now selected members of the House and Senate will try to iron out the differences between the two versions to come up with one bill that can pass both chambers. Should the House members press their case successfully on virtually any of several issues, the package may become just intolerable enough for a couple of fence-sitting senators to back away.

Wenk contends the Collins provision involving state tax relief could end up being a deal breaker. Whether the House will buy into it or not remains to be seen, but without it, a few senators may stray.