Maine’s two senators make elite list Snowe and Collins deemed of presidential caliber in magazine survey

AUGUSTA – Both of Maine’s U.S. senators have made a very exclusive list. They are among eight women considered possible candidates for president in 2008 in a national survey being conducted by Parade Magazine.

“No other state has two on the list,” said Lee Kravitz, editor in chief of Parade Magazine. “It must be something in the water up there.”

Kravitz said Parade teamed up with the White House Project, a nonpartisan organization that advances women’s political leadership, to develop this year’s list that includes Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. The list will appear in Parade’s Feb. 19 publication, when readers will be asked to go online to thewhitehouseproject.org and vote for their favorite candidate.

“This is a project we did before, in 1998, and it generated over 100,000 votes,” Kravitz said earlier this week.

This year’s list includes, in addition to Snowe and Collins: U.S. Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, a Democrat; U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius, a Democrat.

Both Snowe and Collins said they were honored to make the list, but neither plans to run for president in 2008.

Both credited their current positions to the state’s long history of supporting women for political office at all levels of government.

“I was elected to Congress in 1978 when I was 31,” Snowe said in an interview this week. “Maine has a long tradition of women in leadership positions in the Legislature and in local government, and we all look upon [the late U.S.] Sen. Margaret Chase Smith as a role model.”

Snowe was serving in the state Senate when first elected to the U.S. House. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994.

Collins said her personal involvement in politics stemmed from a meeting with Smith when Collins was just a high school student. But she does not see herself running for president in 2008.

“I am proud of what I have accomplished, but I don’t see that happening,” she said. “I suspect you will see me on the ballot in 2008, but it will be running for re-election as Maine’s senator.”

Collins noted she has promised to act as an adviser to Arizona Sen. John McCain should he seek the presidency in 2008. She joked that she needed to call McCain before he sees the Parade article.

“That thought immediately occurred to me, that I had better tell John, don’t worry, I am still with him,” she said.

Collins was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 after an unsuccessful run for governor in 1994. She had not held elective office before winning her seat.

Christian Potholm, a political science professor at Bowdoin College, said Mainers should be “excited” that the state has two women on the list. He said both are in the mold of Sen. Smith.

“Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to have her name put in consideration for the presidency at a national party nominating convention,” he said. “This is a tremendous honor for Maine and for the senators.”

Potholm said that while both senators indicate they are not interested in running for president in 2008, either could be a contender in a later election if chosen as the vice presidential running mate this time around. He said becoming vice president also would help either woman get around the problem of raising money should they later run for president.

“As a sitting vice president,” he said, neither Snowe nor Collins would “have any problem raising money; just look at Al Gore.”

Both senators chuckled at the speculation they could be on the ticket in 2008 as the vice presidential nominee.

“From that standpoint, there are, hopefully, always possibilities,” Snowe said. “But, I like serving in the United States Senate. That’s my plan; I am running for re-election.”

Collins said she also enjoys serving in the Senate and doubts she will be tapped as a running mate in 2008 by McCain.

“I can tell you all my conversations with John [McCain] have been whether I would help him if he decides to run,” she said. “We have never, ever had a conversation like that. But I am flattered that I would be mentioned for either.”

Both senators said it will be interesting to see how all eight of the Parade “nominees” will fare in balloting over the next month. Readers have until March 18 to cast their votes. Neither senator would speculate over who would win.

Individuals are asked to pick a candidate by voting online at thewhitehouseproject.org or by writing to: The White House Project, 110 Wall Street, 16th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10005. The results will be published in Parade sometime in April.