By David A. Sargent,Special to the Sun Journal

LEWISTON – With a reminder that we are living through “transformational and tumultuous times,” U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe told Androscoggin County Republicans that security issues and the war on terrorism will continue as a top priority in the next election.

Maine’s senior senator, who is seeking a third term in November, was the keynote speaker Friday night at the Lincoln Day Dinner and Auction at the Ramada Conference Center. The dinner is held every year by all county Republican organizations in honor of Abraham Lincoln and to commemorate the founding of the Republican Party.

“We are facing a confluence of challenges, any one of which would have been significant and monumental,” she told the crowd of party faithful. Counting off recent events including three devastating hurricanes, two back-to-back Supreme Court nominations, the ongoing operations in Iraq and efforts to prepare for a possible Avian flu pandemic, she said, “Think about it. That occurred within a six-month period, or less. It tells you how these historic events have had a profound impact in Washington and across this country.”

Noting the recent escape from jails in Yemen by conspirators in the U.S.S. Cole attack, Sen. Snowe went on to state that “the world community cannot afford to be complacent.”

“We are dealing with an enemy that makes no distinction between a battlefield and our backyard,” she declared.

“All you have to see is Iran and its defiant march toward achieving and accomplishing nuclear ambitions. The world community cannot afford a nuclear-armed Iran,” the senator said.

A reduction of dependency on Middle Eastern oil is vital, she noted, because the high price we pay for “fuels drives and enriches radical nations like Iran who are under the direction of a very radical and dangerous leader.”

She told the audience, “Our mission is to look straight ahead, to focus on the issues that will make a difference in people’s everyday lives. That is the bottom line.”

She went on to say that “We also have to focus on some core issues on the domestic front.” She mentioned education, science and energy policy, but she singled out health care as the primary issue of concern.

“We must begin to grapple with the challenge of providing accessible and affordable health care to Americans. From my perspective as chair of the Small Business Committee, this is a very important issue.”

She said the foremost concern among small business owners she has talked with in Maine is the cost of health care.

“It’s unattainable, it’s unaffordable and it’s inaccessible,” she said.

Sen. Snowe noted President Bush’s support in three consecutive State of the Union addresses for Association Health Plans, a concept she has introduced in legislation. She said the plans would allow small businesses to leverage their purchasing power on a national basis and be able to access more competitive health care plans.

“After all, corporations and unions are self-insured,” Sen. Snowe said. “If it’s good for them, it ought to be able to be good for small businesses.”

She told the audience, “If we want the economy to grow, we have to make sure that small business is healthy. They are the ones that drive the job creation, not only in Maine but across America.”

Commenting on the Part D Medicare Prescription Drug Program, she said, “Even though it has been fraught with difficulties in the implementation, we cannot lose sight of the fact that this is a major benefit to senior citizens in this country and in the State of Maine. We just have to make it work right.”

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