SACO — With Washington seemingly in political gridlock and financial markets reeling on the heels of a credit rating downgrade of the national debt, people told Sen. Olympia Snowe on Tuesday that Congress needs to start working together to fix the country’s problems, not bicker over politics.

During a downtown walking tour in this southern Maine city, Snowe was told that people are anxious about the economy, the nation’s debt and what’s to come. People think that politicians should stop arguing simply to make political points, said Peg Poulin, owner of a State Farm Insurance and Financial Services branch.

“It’s really almost embarrassing,” she said.

Snowe, a moderate Republican, said there’s little room for negotiation in Washington these days with the partisan politics. It’s time for lawmakers to stop politicking and start governing, she said.

“I’m embarrassed by all of us,” Snowe told a restaurant owner. “I’ve never seen a worse Congress in my whole political life.”

Snowe was a U.S. representative from 1979 to 1995, and has been a senator ever since.

Back in Maine for the August congressional recess, she met with people at small businesses and on the sidewalk to hear their concerns.

Dick Petersen, who owns a computer business, told Snowe he’s disappointed that Congress hasn’t come up with a long-term plan to bring the nation’s debt under control. He asked why lawmakers were taking a recess this summer; no business would dare shut down during a time of crisis, he said.

Others told Snowe the downgrade in the nation’s credit rating is worrisome, and that the fragile economy has people uneasy.

“People are nervous about money. They’re nervous about investing money,” Poulin said. “They’re not sure it’ll be there for them.”

Snowe is popular in Maine, winning the 2006 senatorial election with 74 percent of the vote and the 2000 election with 69 percent. She has never faced a primary challenge in her career.

But she’s being challenged by two Republicans in next year’s primary ahead of the 2012 general election. She said politics are so divided these days that it leaves moderates like her open to challenges.

“That’s why I’m facing a primary challenge because I’ve been a bridge builder,” she said.