On health care and climate change, Democrats have expressed a desire for bipartisan support. They've gotten some cooperation across the aisle from Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., they run the risk of letting the two Republican senators hijack the debate.

Snowe had been courted on health care since the beginning, and many suspected that Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., made concessions in early drafts of his bill just to get her support. When she finally broke ranks and voted for the bill in committee, she was lauded by Democrats and reviled by Republicans, who called her everything from "traitor" to the old partisan favorite "RINO," short for Republican In Name Only. Comedian Stephen Colbert joined in, proposing the new nickname "O. Snowe-you-di'in't" on his Twitter feed. But even though Snowe became the only Republican to vote for a health care bill in committee, she didn't come out strongly for the bill, saying she just wanted to advance it to continue the debate.

Now Graham may be taking over the RINO role in the energy debate. Graham recently co-wrote an op-ed in the New York Times with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., advocating bipartisan work on a climate change bill. But he has been working quietly for years to advance energy reform, courting conservatives by tying the cause to energy independence and national security. Now he's getting the same treatment as Snowe -- at a recent town hall, Graham was called a "Democrat in drag" and accused of making a "pact with the devil."

The Snowe scorn wasn't unexpected -- she's long ranked as one of the Senate's most liberal Republicans in National Journal's annual Vote Ratings. Graham has been a more reliable Republican vote, even if he has shown himself to be fiscally moderate and a close ally with "maverick" Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. But both are now in a powerful position on their big issues.

Snowe was noncommittal on the Finance Committee's health care vote, saying, "My vote today is my vote today." She wasn't at the bargaining table in the full Senate, and she's since announced that she will not support the bill from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in its current form. But with the defection of party-shedding Sen. Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn., Democrats may need her vote more than ever.

Graham, meanwhile, is trying to arrange a bipartisan effort from the outset of the debate so his vote isn't the centerpiece. His editorial with Kerry promised "honest give-and-take and genuine bipartisanship" -- and that the two sides would propose bills together. The issue is promising to be a contentious one -- George Voinovich of Ohio, who was seen as a potential swing vote, is leading the GOP opposition, and several Democrats haven't signed on yet. In the end, Snowe and Graham may not be the ones holding massive bills hostage.

jplautz@nationaljournal.com