The first Republican to speak out against the Ryan plan:

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) said Friday that she will not support the 2012 budget passed by the House last week. "I don't happen to support Congressman Ryan's plan but at least he had the courage to put forward a plan to significantly reduce the debt," Collins said on "In the Arena" a program on WCSH 6, a local NBC affiliate in Portland, Maine.

Not sure how much weight this will carry in the GOP caucus. Probably not much. Collins is also one of the few Republicans on the Hill who has not signed Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge, so she's probably regarded in Republican circles as extremely squishy.

Still it's important. She' a senator after all. And it's big news. Three or four others might follow her: Olympia Snowe, maybe Richard Lugar, possibly Charles Grassley, someone like that. Although, Snowe and Grassley are right now pretty afraid of the rumbustious right wings in their respective states, so maybe not.

I don't think Democrats would be wise to hope many Republicans follow Collins' lead. What Democrats should want is for the Ryan plan to remain "the Republican plan" for as long as possible, like until November 2012.

In a similar vein, I've been reading a lot today about how progressive people ought to show up at GOP town halls this summer and go nutso on them about the Ryan plan the way conservatives did about Obamacare. But that would just scare Republicans off the Ryan plan too quickly, and they'd go back to the more logical posture of just attacking Obama about the economy. Far preferable from the Democrats' perspective that the GOP stays married to Ryan until the bitter end, so the less fuss the better.

