WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seated in a plush, high-backed chair in her Senate office, next to a cup of coffee, Sen. Olympia Snowe gave a sigh.

The night before, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had unveiled the merged health care bill he crafted from two different committee proposals, one of which the Maine Republican worked on for the better part of the last six months. She wasn’t happy.

“It’s a challenging and uncertain process,” she said during a recent interview in Washington, D.C. “I will do whatever I can to do a good faith effort. I genuinely believe it’s an issue we must confront and shouldn’t be deterred from.”

Reid included in his comprehensive bill — a paper behemoth that exceeded a foot in height when printed double-sided, neatly stacked — a government run health care plan, or public option, that states can opt-out of, something Snowe opposes. She’s also not convinced Reid’s effort does enough to make health insurance affordable.

Snowe, who has received attention from the White House since May as a potential Republican supporter of President Obama’s top domestic priority, comprehensive health care reform, remains lonely in her efforts to work with Democrats.

In mid-October, Snowe was the only Republican on the Senate Finance Committee to vote in favor of moving the legislation forward; indeed she was the only Republican from any of the five House and Senate committees tasked with writing health care bills to vote in support of moving legislation forward. That was despite working long hours within a bipartisan group of six to develop a proposal that might rally support from both sides of the aisle.

Policy work proved tedious and time-consuming, and support for the bipartisan plan deteriorated among all the group’s Republican negotiators not named Snowe during a toxic August recess.

“It was really, frankly, surprising,” Snowe said of the group’s derailed talks. “Given what we were all committed to and we were involved in; we lived and breathed this every moment. I didn’t expect to be alone, the only vote. I truly didn’t.”

Snowe credited Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the finance committee chairman, for his willingness to work with Republicans. But the choice by her conservative colleagues to “not fully weigh in” and craft the policy was a pivotal point in the process, Snowe said.

Before the phrases “public option” and “death panels” dominated people’s lexicon and cable news stations, Snowe had said Republicans were “committed to act” on health care during an interview with the Sun Journal in May. But after August, when lawmakers were pounded at home by a public weary of spending and leery of government intervention, the common goal of curbing health care costs and ever-increasing premiums turned into a philosophical battle between sides prepared to take all-or-nothing approaches.

You were either for a so-called public option or you weren’t; you either wanted to help more Americans afford insurance or you didn’t; and you either wanted to spend more taxpayer money or not.

“An issue of this significance certainly needs a more centrist-based, pragmatic approach,” she said, blaming Democrats and Republicans alike. “It deserves to have bipartisanship, and bipartisanship means a melding of ideas.”

Snowe said she understands the public’s anger over the billions of dollars in stimulus spending and bailouts of banks and the automobile industry, which still couldn’t stave off an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent. That anger and distrust has spilled over into the health care debate, she said.

“The American people are anxious, angry and feel threatened; they see politicians as disconnected from their world,” she said. “But this issue affects every American. Therefore, you have to build support for what you do. It’s so unfair to have all these votes driven along party lines. It sends the wrong message, and people don’t buy into it.”

The phones in her office ring nonstop, with a diligent intern saying to callers almost by rote, “Thanks for calling and letting us know what you think. I’ll mark it down and make sure the senator sees it.”

Aides said the calls come from people around the country, but Mainers still make up the majority.

“They tell me people’s opinions are exactly 50-50,” Snowe said of whether or not she should support the legislation. 

Though earlier this year Snowe had praised President Obama’s hands-off approach to health care reforms, she said in November that President Obama could have aided the process by more clearly leading the debate: “If it’s his highest priority, he needs to be front and center and manage it. Now his efforts have been derailed, and he’s spent time back-filling.”

It’s not obvious what policy points the president will fight for, Snowe said, which has left lawmakers guessing.

Snowe herself is now faced with the choice between voting against overall reforms she believes in — no longer allowing health insurance companies to refuse coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, charge different rates based on gender or place lifetime caps on coverage — or voting in favor of specific policies she disagrees with, such as a public option, as the legislation takes to the Senate floor. So far, Snowe has remained consistent in her opposition to a bill that includes a public option.

During the first procedural Senate vote, to allow for the bill’s consideration, Snowe voted with her party. Everyone else did too. However, several conservative Democrats vowed to oppose the overall passage of the bill if it includes a public option, which sets up a legislative dilemma.

Due to Republican support of a filibuster, 60 votes are needed to pass the bill or amend the bill — which means in all likelihood there’s neither enough votes to pass it as is, nor make changes to it that could attract more support.

“I’ve given this every ounce of concentration and attention possible. It’s consumed all of my time,” she said. “It’s never far from my thoughts. I’ve worked every which way to come up with a solution.”

But she has yet to find it.

Debate on the Senate bill is scheduled to begin Monday.

[email protected]