Senator Susan Collins will tell you that when she visited legendary Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the Senator told the young visitor that “these days even a woman can become a United States Senator.”
Susan Collins took those words to heart. Now, as a Senator, ask her what she does to relax, and she’ll say, “read.” But her staff will tell you “… it’s reading briefing books.”
The Democrats set their sights on Collins’ seat in 2002. They put up challenger Chellie Pingree, who was called, “… the single best candidate the Democrats had recruited in the country.”
Pingree had risen in the Maine State Senate on the issue of prescription drugs and heavily outspent Senator Collins with big resources from national Democrats, and outside interests like the AFL-CIO.
But the tough Senator from Maine prevailed with 58% of the vote in a campaign CNN/Roll Call analyst Stu Rothenberg called “one of the best of 2002.”
Return to Candidates Home
