AUGUSTA -- Though most of the snow in the capital city had melted away, snow shovels were seen in the hands of many Mainers attending a Tea Party Patriots rally in the Statehouse parking lot Saturday afternoon.

The snow they looking to shovel, however, had nothing to do with winter weather.

"This is our way of sending (Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) a pink slip, so to speak, if they continue to vote against the Constitution," Amy Hale, rally organizer and founder of the Maine Patriots said Saturday.

The snow shovels were a reference to voting Sen. Olympia Snowe out of office next year, as well as other politicians the more than 100 attendees felt did not represent their interests.

"We need to send the message if (Snowe) and Susan Collins vote for this health care bill, this is surely the last time they'll be in office," Peter Harring, another rally organizer and head of the Maine Refounders group, said amid cheers.

Saturday's rally featured speakers and booths from the Constitutionists Party, Maine Patriots and 9/12 groups, among others. One of the drawing concerns was the National Health Care Act, which would create a universal health care system in the United States.

"I think people here today are most concerned about health care, yes," attendee Landon St. Peter said. "Bills are being passed right and left and I don't think anyone's reading them."

Hale's 353-member group is dedicated to "speaking out whenever we feel our constitutional rights are being violated."

"I would say we're fairly Conservative in our views, but we do not identify ourselves with any one candidate or party," Hale said.

"We don't look at whether or not there's a D or R behind someone's name. But we want good people who will uphold our Constitution."

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811, ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmaine.com