AUGUSTA — Maine’s retiring U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe made only a passing reference to her frustration with polarization of Congress that’s driving her from office during a farewell speech Sunday to a sharply divided Republican state convention.

Snowe, who has represented Maine in the U.S. House and Senate for more than three decades, also thanked Maine Republicans for their support over the years. Her husband, former Maine governor and congressman John “Jock” McKernan, sat near her as Snowe spoke.

“It’s been my honor and privilege to serve my beloved state of Maine and my country,” said Snowe, who was greeted by standing ovations at the start and finish of her half-hourlong address. At the end nearly all of the convention delegates held up signs saying, “Thank You Olympia.”

Snowe, a moderate who has been a popular and consistent vote-winner for Republicans over the years, shocked Maine’s political establishment in February when she announced she would not seek re-election this year. She said at the time that the “sensible center has now virtually disappeared” and that centrists in Congress who are willing to compromise were being marginalized.

But Snowe stayed clear of that theme Sunday, choosing instead to look back on her achievements and training her own criticism on President Barack Obama and other Democrats, and calling on Republicans to make sure Obama “goes into the history books as a one-term president.” She said Republicans need to be elected at the state and federal levels “to prove we can govern.”

Saying it’s been “an inexpressible honor” to serve Maine, Snowe said she’s spent her career in Washington “battling when the odds are long, leaving no stone unturned and finding more stones to unturn” on behalf of the state.

Snowe said she fought hard to maintain Navy contracts for Bath Iron Works, keep a nuclear waste dump out of Maine and keep the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery from closing, among other achievements.

Looking ahead, Snowe reiterated her support for a constitutional balanced-budget amendment. The senator said she’s been told many times over the years that the amendment is nothing but a gimmick.

“If it was a gimmick, Congress would have passed it long ago,” Snowe said.