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LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

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Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, smiles as she finishes speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing regarding health care reform. Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Barack Obama's top legislative priority. At right is fellow committee member Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Barack Obama's top legislative priority.

The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate Tuesday. Until then, she told reporters, she had not even let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in on her secret. She told her colleagues: "When history calls, history calls," even though she had some criticism of the bill.

Democrats, aware that Snowe could be the only Republican in Congress to vote for their health care overhaul, have spent months addressing her concerns about making health care affordable and how to pay for it.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.