Former Sen. Chafee to run for governor of R.I.

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/73803-former-sen-chafee-to-run-for-governor-of-ri

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) will announce his candidacy for governor of Rhode Island next month.

Chafee, who established an exploratory committee to run for governor in April of 2009, will make his bid official next Monday, Jan. 4, according to reports.

(snip)
A centrist Republican in the Senate, Chafee was defeated in his 2006 reelection bid by now-Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D), and only after a bruising primary battle against conservative Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey.

Since leaving the Senate, Chafee had disaffiliated with the GOP to become a political independent. In 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama for president.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. One case where I'd give an independent a serious look

Chafee's a pretty good guy. He charmed me when he said (granted, after the fact) that it was right for him to lose his senate seat because Dems taking control was more important than him winning.

I would have to see where he and the Dem were on issues... would probably go with the Dem, but it would be the first time I even paid much attention to a non-Dem candidate.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. He'd win easily, IMHO

Chafee was well respected in RI.

[w4rma]

3. He'd make a great DLCer. (nt)

[katkat]

4. He needs money and support

Hardly any Democrat in RI is worth a hill of beans, the level of corruption in the state is unbelievable. At least the Mafia isn't running things directly any more.

But Linc is trailing significantly in fundraising:

http://www.projo.com/news/content/fundraise_01-01-10_6MGVGEM_v9.37d0da9.html

Here's his website:

http://www.chafeeforgovernor.com/

He's running against Frank Caprio, a machine pol; Patrick Lynch, who is so incompetent he practically drools; and Steve Laffey, the darling of the Club For Growth, is making noises about running.

I would not assume Chafee is a shoe-in, quite the contrary. For some reason, state level politics in Rhode Island is different from how RI voters think about their Congressional representatives. We tend to elect crooks at the state level, so any help you can give him would be important.