WP: In R.I., a Feisty Conservative Challenges Sen. Lincoln Chafee

[DeepModem Mom]

In R.I., a Feisty Conservative Challenges Sen. Chafee
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 26, 2006; Page A05


(Raw Story)
Senator Lincoln Chafee (R., RI)

....The Stephen Laffey-Lincoln Chafee Republican showdown Sept. 12 is the next chapter in the turbulent 2006 election saga. A spate of primary upsets -- especially Ned Lamont's victory over Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut -- have signaled that no incumbent is safe in a year when voters are agitating for change. With his spirited campaign against Sen. Chafee, Laffey is trying to push that frustration one step further. He wants to turn his race into a referendum on personality and attitude.

Rhode Island is a solidly Democratic state, but it does elect moderate Republicans such as Chafee and his late father, the veteran GOP Sen. John Chafee. During his seven-year tenure, "Linc" has distinguished himself as one of the Senate's least partisan members. Modest and soft-spoken, he has broken with his party on tax cuts, judicial nominations and environmental issues, and he was the only Republican senator to vote against the Iraq war.

In terms of temperament and political style, Laffey is Chafee's opposite -- confrontational and impatient, a working-class kid who scoffs at his opponent's patrician pedigree. Laffey dismisses the senator's careful approach to legislating as a big reason Congress cannot get anything done....

***

Laffey's critics believe he is too coarse to win the general election against Democratic nominee Sheldon Whitehouse, a former U.S. attorney and state attorney general....Only about 70,000 voters in Rhode Island are registered Republicans, and they are expected by many political observers to back Laffey by a wide margin. But about 340,000 independent voters are eligible to vote in the primary, and it's not clear how many will show up, or whom they will support. Public and private polls show the race is more or less even, with Chafee needing a big independent turnout to prevail....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/25/AR2006082501167.html

[flaminbats]

1. if Chafee had any sense he would switch parties!!

if Chafee switched parties, he would be re-elected by a landslide. I doubt Chafee would have any opposition in the Democratic primary. And if he switched parties..Chafee could become a hot contender for the Democratic nomination in 2008!

But now his future is in the hands of a few nutty neocons voting in R.I.'s Republican primary. If Chafee does survive, I hope he learns a lesson from this. As a Democrat he would be appreciated for his progressive and populist views, but as a Republican he's attacked as a "thinking" elitist and just another "unpatriotic" liberal who dared to speak out against the Bush administration.:wow:

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Ohferkrissakes

Tweety was singing this tune so hard today that he had a smile on his face and a wet spot on his pantz. Laffey was just some loudmouth Republican, but to hear Tweety spin it, you'd think he was the second coming.

Clearly *this* notion is coming from Party Central.