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Collins Speaks at Women's Leadership Forum

AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins was a speaker at the Women's Leadership Forum held by the Edward Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

Collins outlined her rocky road to becoming Maine's senior senator. She noted that she lost a race for governor badly in 1994 before narrowly winning her first Senate race in 1996.

She told participants that women have an important role in Senate leadership. "Although it is dangerous to generalize, I believe that our life experiences tend to produce a more collaborative pragmatic and problem solving approach."

Collins says a lot has changed since she first ran for public office.  She told the group about the question an eight-year-old asked in 2008 when both of Maine's senators were women: The girl asked if boys could grow up to be senators.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.