Snowe melts on BaucusCare, may pay price

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) burnished her Republican-in-name-only credentials by announcing she will vote for the health care reform legislation written by Max Baucus (D-MT).

She may regret this vote, as Healthcare Horserace tells us:

Sen. Olympia Snowe may lose out on her shot at the top Republican seat on the Senate Commerce Committee if she votes for health care reform, committee members say.

The Hill is reporting that Republicans on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee are threatening to vote against Snowe's bid for the seat, about to be vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas).

Democrats on the committee made the claims - allegedly telling a Hill reporter to "Wake up" when asked if Republicans would retaliate.

President Barack Obama has struggled to show any conservative support of his bill in the last week. Former Sen. Bob Dole even had his sound-byte removed from an ad the Administration was planning to show support.

Olympia Snowe was one of three Republican senators to vote for President Obama's economic stimulus boondoggle. One of the others, Arlen Specter, is now a Democrat.

UPDATE 2:00pm CDT: BaucusCare passed the Senate Finance Committee, 14-10. Sen. Orrin Hatch called the process of merging it with whatever emerges from the House of Represenatives as "messy" and fears that the Democrats efforts will reach their ultimate goal: single payer health care.

Related posts:

Insurance industry slams BaucusCare
Pelosi criticizes BaucusCare
Baucus bullying update
BaucusCare may not be as cheap as it seems
Wall Street Journal slams BaucusCare
Rep. John Boehner: 10 facts about BaucusCare
Baucus bullies Humana

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