ORONO, Maine - U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says she's not thinking about the possibility of another candidacy for elected office, including Maine's governorship - but she's not ruling it out either.
Collins addressed her political future at a press conference this afternoon, before delivering the Margaret Chase Smith Public Affairs Lecture at the University of Maine at Orono.
Questions about Collins's intentions have been swirling in recent weeks, after a Democratic state lawmaker introduced a bill that would allow voters, and not Maine's governor, to select a U.S. senator in the event of a vacancy.
"I have just been re-elected this last fall," Collins said. "I am not at all focused on my re-election or future campaigns or what I might run for."
Collins was the Republican nominee for Maine governor in 1994. She came in third behind Democrat Joseph Brennan and the man who went on to serve two terms in Augusta, independent U.S. Sen. Angus King.