Win-Win

From MTM:

Another result [of the election] is that Maine's two Republican U.S. senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, "will have increasing roles because their votes become more important," said Marvin Druker of USM's Lewiston-Auburn college. Democrats are clinging to a narrow majority in the Senate.

Got that?

When the GOP is in charge, the conventional wisdom in Maine is that it boosts the clout of Sens. Snowe and Collins. And when Democrats are just short of a 60-seat super majority, the Maine media also touts the increasing influence of the home state senators, because their votes are needed to avoid filibusters.

And sure enough, even now, with Democrats needing a whole bunch of Republican votes to achieve cloture--and no obvious new lever of power for either woman--the power of Maine's senators is still said to be on the upswing.

You almost get the sense that, when it comes to coverage of Snowe and Collins in the Maine press, the state's senators can't lose.