Collins: Woman in the Middle ; Maine's Junior Senator Plays a Pivotal Role On Every Single Major Issue, On Every Single Vote Series: Maine's Senators Editor's Note This Is the First of Two Stories Examining the Record and Achievements of Maine's Senators. Sen. Olympia Snowe Will Be Featured Next Sunday, Sept. 5.

Summary

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At the frenzied peak of congressional negotiations over the federal stimulus in 2009, there was a surplus of phone calls and e- mails in U.S. Sen. Susan Collins' office, but a deficit of Diet Coke.

"Literally, every six to eight seconds a new (e-mail) would come through from all over the country," recalled Steve Abbott, Collins former chief of staff. "In our front office, the phones would be ringing and when you hung up, it would ring."

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Collins: Woman in the Middle ; Maine's Junior Senator Plays a Pivotal Role On Every Single Major Issue, On Every Single Vote Series: Maine's Senators Editor's Note This Is the First of Two Stories Examining the Record and Achievements of Maine's Senators. Sen. Olympia Snowe Will Be Featured Next Sunday, Sept. 5.

The demand on phones and BlackBerries was only surpassed by that on Capitol Hill vending machines, as the flocks of lobbyists and staffers roaming the halls drained supplies of a key, all-night negotiating ingredient.

"It was like an encampment," he said. "Youd get to soda machine after soda machine in the Senate complex and they were all out of Diet Coke. It was just one of those things where everybody was there all the time and the cupboards were bare."

Negotiating the stimulus marked a period of growing influence ? and searing scrutiny ? for Collins, a centrist Republican, in the Senate, as its partisan makeup thrust Maines junior senator into the heart of the countrys top policy debates.

"I enjoy playing a ke...

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