According to
CQ Politics, the ladies from Maine are currently on track to have party unity scores below 50% for the 111th Congress. Snowe is coming in at 44% party unity and Collins is at 49%. The next Republican closest to them is Voinovich coming in at 65%. Both of the Senators from Maine are also currently supporting the president's agenda 92% of the time. Once again Voinovich has the next highest presidential support amongst Republicans at 83% with Gregg coming in at 82%. For comparison, Specter (as a Democrat) currently has a party unity score of 49% and has supported the president 86% of the time. Ben Nelson, the supposedly notorious Senate DINO, is at 56% party unity and 92% presidential support.
I don't know exactly what votes resulted in these percentages but it seems to me that Collins and Snowe have essentially been giving the Democrats their "super-majority" more than 50% of the time. I know the topic of party switching with regards to these two has been beaten to death but it seems to me that there must be an awful lot of pressure for them to jump ship if the Republicans continue down a track to losing more seats in 2010. In fact I would wager than if the Republicans fair poorly in the Senate again in 2010 these two will be looking for bluer pastures to graze in.
