Olympia Snowe: Hinting at Exit Also?

Olympia Snowe, Republican Senator from Maine, recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times titled, We Didn't Have to Lose Arlen Specter. In it, as the title presumes, the senator recalls former Republican senator Jim Jeffords leaving for the Democrats in 2001, and the absent response by Republicans to shape up and prevent it from happening again. Senator Snowe emphasizes that the GOP cannot succeed by shrinking ideologically, outcasting moderates by saying they aren't "true" Republicans. She makes it clear that for the party to flourish, it needs both moderates and conservatives to work together in making policy. Snowe also stressed lessons learned from Ronald Reagan:
"We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty. As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.”
But with all the hope Senator Snowe expressed in her op-ed for an expansion of the Republican Party, I sensed, overall, an underlying sentiment that maybe she too was soon to leave the GOP in favor of the Democratic Party. Throughout the piece, she seemed very sympathetic towards Senator Specter while giving off a "I don't blame him" type of attitude. She compared being a moderate Republican, which she is herself, to a contestant on "Survivor" saying, "you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe." Senator Snowe, with the Republican Arlen Specter and fellow Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, were the only three Republicans to vote for President Obama's stimulus package. It truly does not seem too unlikely that Senator Snowe may follow Senator Specter to the Democratic Party. It would help if Senator Snowe was up for reelection this upcoming summer in a state with an increasingly uneasy climate for Republicans, like Specter, but Snowe seemed to express that she would feel at home in the Democratic Party.