BANGOR – Maine’s senior U.S. senator stood before a group of hungry constituents Tuesday morning and let them know she means business.

Olympia Snowe did not come across as gruff or hardened and even joined in the collective laughter when she accidentally was introduced by Husson College President William Beardsley as Maine’s “senior citizen.”

But when her remarks touched upon the divisive political atmosphere in Washington, she made it clear she feels that her centrist philosophy is the best formula for getting things done in the nation’s capital.

“Ideology leads to a scorched-earth policy or to political isolation,” the senator said. “You’ve got to work across the [political] aisle to get things done.”

Making references to Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, Snowe said she’s actively pursued bipartisan solutions because it is practical. By being part of the “Gang of 14” – seven Democrats and seven Republicans in the Senate who compromised on whether to use the filibuster option to block President Bush’s court nominations -Snowe helped preserve both the integrity of the Senate and of the judicial branch, she said.

“You have to work and have to bring people together,” Snowe said. “Otherwise it becomes an all-or-nothing proposition.”

Aside from discussing the nation’s business, Snowe touted some of her proposals for helping small businesses in Maine.

A proposed east-west highway that would link Maine with New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York would benefit Maine’s businesses, the vast majority of which are classified as small, according to Snowe. At her urging, $18 million was included in this year’s federal highway bill for further development of this corridor, which, with the support of Maine’s entire congressional delegation, was officially designated a high priority, giving it access to $340 million in federal funding for road and bridge improvement projects.

She said the Associated Health Plan program would allow small businesses to reduce their health care costs by as much as 30 percent by pooling their resources for group health insurance purchases.

Snowe also promoted the HUB Zone program, which she said was an underused program that helps direct government contracts to small businesses in eligible areas.

For the sake of the home crowd, the senator repeated an explanation she has made several times in the past couple of weeks about why she defied her party last month by successfully opposing some tax cuts proposed by her fellow Senate Republicans.

Snowe, one of 11 Republicans who serve on the 20-member Senate Finance Committee, suggested that the extension of tax cuts on capital gains and dividends beyond 2008 would be fiscally irresponsible. Snowe was the only Republican on the committee who insisted the tax-cut extensions be removed from the committee’s proposed tax package.

“The reality is we are in a very different world than even just six months ago,” she said. Higher home heating fuel costs, cleanup expenses from hurricane damage along the Gulf Coast, the human and financial toll of the war in Iraq, and a federal deficit projected to be $1.6 trillion over the next five years collectively warrant a more practical and fiscally responsible approach, she said.

“Frankly, what’s happening in Washington is this fiscal shell game,” Snowe said. “I would prefer to consider what [tax cuts] should be made permanent to our tax code and to make them permanent.”