The frenzy created by Democratic and Republican national party leaders falling all over themselves to take advantage of Sen. Olympia Snowe’s sudden announcement that she won’t seek a fourth term offers the best explanation for why she’s leaving office and reinforces the notion that those who seek our votes do so more out of hunger for power than a commitment to lead.

Winning, not statesmanship, defines government at the state and federal levels in 2012.

Certainly, ambition factors into an individual’s leadership skill set, but the overtly manipulative lunges for Snowe’s seat in the hours after she dropped her reelection bid come off as just more crass and unseemly jockeying in the political cage match that spurred Snowe to “quit in disgust,” as Matt Bennett of the group Third Way described her decision.

The contest to fill the first open U.S. Senate seat from Maine since 1996 has already set in motion a chain reaction that apparently includes pressuring Mike Michaud not to run for the Senate because it might jeopardize Democrats’ hold on his U.S. House seat.

The stakes are high. The results of this election could determine who controls the U.S. Senate for the next two years. Get ready to duck and cover.

In the post-Citizens United era of corporate free speech, as managed by political operatives who realize they can make more money and wield more power by pulling the strings of government from outside the Beltway marionette theater, Maine can expect a flood of mudslinging funded by Democratic and Republican political action committees.

The short-term result will be an infusion of revenue for Maine television stations and other entities that deliver political advertising. The long-term result — unless Mainers act aggressively to prevent it — will be a loss of independence and autonomy in representing the state’s interests in Washington. Barring the emergence of an unenrolled or third party candidate, whoever succeeds Snowe will be beholden both to party bosses and their high-rolling benefactors.

In turn, that will devalue the influence of everyday Mainers. The system co-opts even the most well-intentioned individuals.

Snowe, to her great credit, was one of the last elected officials in Washington who dared cross party lines in search of common ground to achieve a greater good for Maine and the nation as a whole. She did so at the risk of payback from her own party and sabotage from across the aisle — retribution aimed at attaining a better position for the next election.

William Galston, co-founder of the bipartisan advocacy group No Labels, described Snowe as “the poster child” for the frustrations of Americans who want the parties to drop their bickering and settle the nation’s problems.

It’s time for those Americans — at least those of us who live in Maine — to take action rather than simply voicing our frustrations.

Nationally, the Republican and Democratic parties can’t seem to extricate themselves from perpetual campaign mode. The drive to win votes thwarts collaboration, further polarizes the electorate and sacrifices the public’s interests for the sake of creating campaign fodder.

With the surprise opening of a U.S. Senate race in Maine, voters here have a chance to derail that self-perpetuating partisan system by supporting an independent or third party candidate if the Democrats and Republicans can’t nominate individuals who clearly demonstrate the willingness to buck party pressure and reject the us-versus-them mentality that permeates Washington.

We need a senator who can work through disagreements rather than creating them to feed partisan appetites.