Lincoln Chafee to Announce Bid for Democratic Nomination for President

[oberliner]

Source: NY Times

He has served as a mayor, a senator and a governor. He has been a Republican, an independent and a Democrat. On Wednesday, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island will add presidential candidate to the list.

During a foreign policy speech at George Mason University in Virginia, Mr. Chafee is expected to announce his plans to become the fourth candidate to seek the Democratic nomination, joining Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland.

“Choices are always good,” Mr. Chafee said last month. “I certainly believe, on some of the issues, we should have a lively debate.”

Many were surprised when Mr. Chafee, 62, signaled in April that he was interested in seeking the White House. The move especially raised eyebrows in Rhode Island, where his record as governor gets mixed reviews. Facing the prospect of a primary challenge and sluggish poll numbers last year, he chose not to run for re-election.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/politics/lincoln-chafee-democratic-nomination-for-president.html

[dhill926]

1. why?

[sulphurdunn]

2. Making the announcement

at GMU tells me all I need to know.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Linc, that train left the station a decade or 3 ago.

Bill Clinton commandeered it.

[SoapBox]

4. Who?

...just assuming that is what people will say.

[peecoolyour]

5. Lol. nt

[NobodyHere]

6. At least he voted against the Iraq War

Which puts him ahead of Hilary but still behind Bernie in my book.

[oberliner]

7. I think he will push that angle

He has already made that point repeatedly.

[sofa king]

16. He protected the criminal Bush Administration

Not just for lying to start a war, but Chaffee's party-line votes permitted the Bush coup to get away with every single thing they did.

So there's that, you know, which puts him squarely in bed with the criminals who ruined our country.

[corkhead]

8. When he was on Bill Maher last month, he dredged up all the Clinton scandals

including Travelgate and Whitewater. Sounded like a Republicon to me. Being the only Republicon that voted against the Iraq war is not enough for me to vote for him as a Democrat. He should have stayed in the Republicon party where be belongs, he would at least be a relatively sane one.

He knows the Republicon Clown Car is too crowded for him to get any oxygen so he's coming over to our side? meh.

I like any of our other choices better.

[SoapBox]

9. Agree...we have better choices.

And, personally feel, that HRC has too much baggage, that Pukes and Baggers will hammer her with, 24/7.

[AngryAmish]

10. Sorry, he is too old to run for President.

We need new ideas.

[oberliner]

11. Isn't he younger than HRC and Sanders?

Were you being sarcastic?

[AngryAmish]

12. That is incredibly sexist.

Words fail.

[oberliner]

13. How so?

I'm sorry - I am really confused. What was incredibly sexist?

[AngryAmish]

15. Calling our candidate an old lady

[KoKo]

14. Lincoln Chafee...Bio from Wicki...Born: 1953

Lincoln Chafee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lincoln Chafee
Lincoln Chafee official portrait.jpg
74th Governor of Rhode Island
In office
January 4, 2011 – January 6, 2015
Lieutenant Elizabeth H. Roberts
Preceded by Donald Carcieri
Succeeded by Gina Raimondo
United States Senator
from Rhode Island
In office
November 4, 1999 – January 3, 2007
Appointed by Lincoln Almond
Preceded by John Chafee
Succeeded by Sheldon Whitehouse
Mayor of Warwick
In office
1992–1999
Preceded by Charles Donovan
Succeeded by Scott Avedisian
Personal details
Born Lincoln Davenport Chafee
March 26, 1953 (age 62)
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Political party Republican (1999–2007)
Independent (2007–2013)
Democratic (2013–present)
Spouse(s) Stephanie Chafee
Children Louisa
Caleb
Thea
Alma mater Brown University
Montana State University, Bozeman
Religion Episcopalian

Lincoln Davenport Chafee (/ˈtʃeɪfiː/; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician from Rhode Island who has served as the Mayor of Warwick (1992–1999), a U.S. Senator (1999–2007) and as the 74th Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015).

Born in Providence, Chafee is the son of Republican politician John Chafee, who served as the 66th Governor of Rhode Island (1963–1969), the United States Secretary of the Navy (1969–1972) and a U.S. Senator (1976–1999). Lincoln Chafee was educated at Providence Country Day School and Phillips Academy, before graduating with a degree in Classics from Brown University. He then moved to Bozeman, Montana, studying to become a farrier at Montana State University, then working at harness racetracks in the United States and Canada.

Chafee returned to Rhode Island and entered politics as a Republican in 1985 as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. A year later, he was elected to the Warwick City Council, where he served until his election as Warwick's mayor in 1992. When his father died in 1999, Governor Lincoln Almond appointed the younger Chafee to his father's seat in the U.S. Senate. He won the 2000 election to a full term, defeating Democrat Robert Weygand by 57% to 41%.

A liberal Republican, Chafee was frequently ranked as the least conservative Senate Republican, and to the left of some conservative Democrats. He opposed eliminating the estate tax, voted to increase the top federal income tax rate, voted against allowing drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supported an increased minimum wage and was the only Republican Senator to vote against authorising the use of force in Iraq. Chafee is pro-choice, supports same-sex marriage, affirmative action, gun control and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and opposes the death penalty and a Flag Desecration Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Chafee did not vote for President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election, instead casting a write-in vote for Bush's father George H. W. Bush. Chafee ran for re-election to the Senate in 2006 and was challenged from the right in the Republican primary by Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey. Chafee was supported by the Republican establishment, including President Bush's wife Laura, as the most electable candidate in the heavily blue state and was opposed by several conservative organisations. Chafee defeated Laffey by 54% to 46% but was defeated in the general election by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, the former Attorney General of Rhode Island, by 54% to 46%.

Chafee left office in January 2007 and then left the Republican Party to became an Independent in September of that year.[1] He was a supporter of Democrat Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Chafee ran for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2010 election and defeated Republican John Robitaille, Democrat Frank T. Caprio and Moderate Party nominee Ken Block with 36% of the vote, becoming the first Independent to serve as Governor of Rhode Island since John Collins in 1790.[2] Chafee was a co-chair of Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and in May 2013, he announced he was switching his registration to the Democratic Party.[3]

In September 2013, with low approval ratings and faring poorly in public polls of the Democratic primary and the general election, Chafee announced that he would not run for re-election in 2014.[4] On April 9, 2015, Chafee announced that he was exploring a run for President of the United States as a Democrat in the 2016 election.[5] Chafee formally announced the launch of his campaign on June 3, 2015.[6]