Mainers tell Snowe they want to see cooperation

“It’s really almost embarrassing,’’ she said.

Snowe, a moderate Republican, said there is little room for negotiation in Washington these days with the partisan politics. It is time for lawmakers to stop politicking and start governing, she said.

“I’m embarrassed by all of us,’’ Snowe told a restaurant owner. “I’ve never seen a worse Congress in my whole political life.’’

Snowe was a US representative from 1979 to 1995 and has been a senator ever since.

Back in Maine for the August congressional recess, she met with people at small businesses and on the sidewalk to hear their concerns.

Dick Petersen, who owns a computer business, told Snowe he is disappointed that Congress has not come up with a long-term plan to bring the nation’s debt under control. He asked why lawmakers were taking a recess this summer; no business would dare shut down during a time of crisis, he said.

“We all have 30-year mortgages,’’ he said. “But we don’t hear about Washington coming up with a 30-year plan to pay the debt.’’

Others told Snowe that the downgrade in the nation’s credit rating is worrisome and that the fragile economy has people uneasy. “People are nervous about money,’’ Poulin said. “They’re nervous about investing money. They’re not sure it’ll be there for them.’’

Snowe is popular in Maine, winning the 2006 senatorial election with 74 percent of the vote and the 2000 election with 69 percent. She has never faced a primary challenge in her career.

But she is being challenged by two Republicans in next year’s primary ahead of the 2012 general election. She said politics are so divided these days that it leaves moderates like her open to challenges.

“That’s why I’m facing a primary challenge, because I’ve been a bridge builder,’’ she said.