CNN

Sen. Olympia Snowe said the Republican Party never learned its lesson from the 'painful' party switch of Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2001.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Olympia Snowe - one of the three moderate Republicans including Arlen Specter who supported President Obama's stimulus package - told CNN Tuesday that she has also been approached many times about becoming a Democrat, but that it hasn't happened for a while.

"I've been asked, but not recently," she said.

Snowe said the Republican Party never learned its lesson from the "painful" party switch of Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2001.

"For me personally and then for the party, its devastating," Snowe said of Specter's move. "I've always been concerned about the Republican party nationally, about their exclusionary policies towards moderate Republicans. That's not a secretly held view on my part."