Snowed Under

By Massimo Calabresi

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe broke her toe at home earlier this month. But that didn't stop the wiry Maine moderate from kicking President Bush while he was down last week. Twice, in fact. The Bush team was reeling from Democratic gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia and a broader G.O.P. rebellion in the House over the President's spending bill. With centrists on a comeback in Washington, Snowe stepped up, drawing attention to the White House's still faltering response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush's Small Business Administration has disbursed just 103 disaster loans to businesses and 1,398 to homeowners, out of a total of 235,500 requests. In hearings that Snowe called as chairwoman of the small-business committee, she called the response "plodding" and "unacceptable."

Two days later, Snowe sided with Senate Finance Committee Democrats and brought down Bush's tax package, refusing to extend capital-gains and dividend tax cuts, more than half of which would go to households with annual incomes of more than $1 million. "With three consecutive hurricanes and skyrocketing energy prices, the fiscal environment is quite different, and we have to think about what is doable," Snowe told TIME. Her resolve, which rankled Senate G.O.P. leaders and the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, inspired a literal thumbs-up from North Dakota Democrat Kent Conrad as he headed to the Senate floor. "It took real courage for her to stand up and say, 'We've got to change course,'" Conrad said.

Bush could face more trouble from Snowe on Iraq (she told TIME there needs to be a "faster timetable" for handing Baghdad control) and conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito (the pro-choice Senator so far has remained neutral). Into the holiday weekend, G.O.P. leaders tried to force Snowe to cut a deal on the tax cuts but, says a G.O.P. staff member, she stands firm.