AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine politics might have a very different look today if a tight 1990 congressional race had ended differently. But then-U.S. Rep. Olympia Snowe kept her seat, and the manager of the near-miss Democratic campaign is now a prominent Republican. Fewer than 5,000 votes separated Snowe, a moderate Republican, and Pat McGowan, an insurgent Democrat, in that 2nd Congressional District race nearly 28 years ago.