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Democrats on Capitol Hill just collectively exhaled, joyously. Maine Senator Olympia Snowe has told the Senate Finance Committee that she intends to vote yes on Max Baucus's health care reform bill today. All the committee's Democrats have also committed to voting aye, so the bill is well on its way to the Senate floor. Hopes of bipartisan support for a final bill are now slowly rekindling. Snowe's blessing opens the door for her Maine colleague, Susan Collins, to think twice about her vote, and it may even pull a couple of other moderate Republicans, a dwindling breed, along with her.

Sarah Palin 2.0 was unveiled last night at a speech to Asian bankers and investors in Hong Kong. The event was closed to the media, which is perhaps unsurprising. She's made no secret of her disdain for the press, and if she's testing out new ideas she won't want them mercilessly picked apart by a news media which is admittedly prone to criticizing her. But of course audio from the speech has emerged, so we have a pretty good idea of what she said. She covered a range of topics including the financial meltdown - "We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place...We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom" - and the rise of China,which she said "rightfully makes a lot of people nervous". She also spoke extensively about cultural and economic links between Alaska and the Pacific Rim and about the need for a rebirth of the GOP. There was no mention of death panels or lies about her. Instead she positioned herself as someone from "Main Street USA". According the the WSJ , her speech was met with strong applause.