John R. McKernan Jr. Speaker & Booking Information

Born: February 21, 1947 Augusta, Maine Died: Spouse: John R. McKernan, Jr. Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe (born February 21, 1947 in Augusta, Maine) is a Republican politician and the senior United States senator from Maine. A moderate Republican in a Senate

with 44 Democrats, 55 Republicans, and one independent, Snowe often affects close votes and filibusters. This has given her enormous political influence on contentious issues; Congressional Quarterly noted "her presence at the negotiating table in the 107th Congress . . . become nearly a necessity." Her moderate views have drawn attacks from conservative Republicans; the Club for Growth and Concerned Women for America label her a "Republican in Name Only" ("RINO"). Snowe married John McKernan, then-governor of Maine, in February 1989. Snowe and McKernan had served together in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1986.

Snowe was born Olympia Jean Bouchles, the daughter of George and Georgia Goranites Bouchles. Her father emigrated to the United States from Sparta, Greece. Snowe's early life was riddled with tragedy; her mother died of breast cancer when she was eight, and her father died of heart disease barely a year later. Orphaned, she was moved to Auburn, Maine, to be raised by her aunt and uncle, a barber and a textile mill worker respectively, along with their five other children. Her brother John was raised separately, by other family members. Within a few years, illness would also claim her uncle's life. Following her mother's death, Snowe was sent to St. Basil's Academy in Garrison, New York, where she remained from the third grade to the ninth. Returning to Auburn, she attended Edward Little High School, before entering the University of Maine in Orono, Maine in 1969, where she earned a degree in political science. Snowe later received an honorary degree from Bates College. Shortly after graduation, Bouchles married her fiancé, Republican state legislator Peter Snowe.

Snowe entered politics and rose quickly, winning a seat on the Board of Voter Registration and working for Congressman (later U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of Defense) William Cohen. Tragedy struck Snowe again in 1973, when her husband was killed in an automobile accident. At the urging of family, friends, neighbors and local leaders, Snowe ran for his Auburn-based seat in the Maine House of Representatives at the age of 26 and won. She was re-elected to the House in 1974, and, in 1976, won election to the Maine Senate, representing Androscoggin County. That same year, she was a delegate to both the state and national Republican conventions. Snowe was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, and represented Maine's 2nd Congressional District from 1979-1994. The district includes Bangor and her hometown of Auburn. She served as a member of the House Budget and Foreign Affairs Committees. In 1994, when Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell declined to run for reelection, Snowe immediately declared her candidacy for the seat. The Democratic nominee was her House colleague, 1st District Congressman Tom Andrews. Snowe defeated Andrews 60%-36%, carrying every county in the state; she was reelected in 2000 over State Senate President Mark Lawrence, increasing her winning margin to 69%-31%. Snowe was an important voice during the Senate's 1999 impeachment trial of then-President Bill Clinton. She and fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. When the motion failed, Snowe and Collins voted to acquit, arguing that Clinton's perjury did not warrant his removal from office.