Free Republic

The Maine Republican senator says like the telephone, the Internet is a basic service that everyone should have access to. Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she favors expanding the reach of a "fee" that's been charged for years on telephone customers. Snowe and other members of Congress support adding the fee to cable and wireless phone bills to raise money to assure broadband Internet access in rural areas. "I've been a big advocate of making sure that rural communities have access to broadband," she says. "Because it's similar to telephone service, and what the Telecommunications Act was all about...

The Maine Republican senator says most Mainers and most Americans want policies that come from the center, not from the far right or far left. Polls show Republicans, energized by the tea party movement, could sweep Democrats out of power in the U.S. House and gain on them in the Senate. In Maine, a new poll out today, shows GOP candidate Dean Scontras gaining on Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. But Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says most Mainers, and most Americans, want policies that come from the center, not from the far right, or the far left: "I understand...