WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe has shown throughout her career that when it comes to voting, it's her principles and constituents that guide her, not her party. Sen. Olympia Snowe has received overwhelming support from her constituents in past elections. Those principles, analysts note, are guiding her to find a compromise on health care reform currently stalemated in Congress. Jennifer Duffy, who follows the Senate for the Cook Political Report, said Snowe's independent streak is "not new behavior for her." "I think they [Republicans] also realize that the only reason that the state of Maine has two Republican senators at all is the fact that they are very independent-minded and they vote their state," she said, referring to Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins.
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Sen. Olympia Snowe is one of two GOP senators from Maine
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Snowe has said she is guided by principles and constituents, not her party
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Analyst: Snowe's independent streak is "not new behavior for her"
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In 2006, Time magazine named her one of the top 10 U.S. senators
She ran for Senate in 1994 and won, "becoming the first woman in American history to serve in both houses of the state legislature and both houses of @placeholder," her Senate Web site notes.