A Final Update: Maine's US Senate race one month later

Incumbent Republican Susan Collins, once seen as the most vulnerable member of the U.S. Senate in 2008, ended up beating her opponent Democrat Tom Allen by twenty-two points (61-39 %) . Surprisingly, when Maine Democrats won both House seats by very large margins, Collins won every county except one, took the state's bluest cities for the first time in her career, and became the only Republican elected to federal office in New England during this cycle. How did she do it? Most pundits claim that Collins' "message of bipartisanship and independence trumped her opponent's attempt to link her to President Bush's policies on Iraq, the economy, health care and energy." Thus, Collins succeeded in distancing herself from Bush. The Senator's election is said to be important news for the state, since the moderate "women from Maine" - including senior Senator Olympia Snowe - can prevent a Republican fillabuster and help the Obama administration usher in a series of reforms. In short, as some predict, look for Maine's senators to be picking up positions as chairs of Congress's most important committees.

All this raises a few questions: 1) Did any other Republican Senator succeed by following Collins; bipartisan message? 2) Is this the strategy Republicans need to adopt in the next election? Should they be composed of a party of mavericks?