The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

13 September 2006

Chafing the elephant

News item:

Sen. Lincoln Chafee snatched victory in the [Rhode Island] Republican primary Tuesday, giving hope to the GOP that it might be able to keep the seat — and the Senate — out of Democratic hands. With control of the Senate and President Bush's agenda at stake in the midterm elections, the National Republican Senatorial Committee poured more than $1 million into defending the mild-mannered, moderate Chafee against the conservative mayor of Cranston, Stephen Laffey. Committee officials said only Chafee could beat a Democrat in November and promised to abandon the state if Laffey were to secure the nomination.

Shorter National Republican Senatorial Committee: "If we're going to have a Democrat in this seat, we might as well have a Democrat who will caucus with us."

I'm waiting for a reaction from Joe Lieberman.

Posted at 7:27 AM to Political Science Fiction


"If we're going to have a Democrat in this seat, we might as well have a Democrat who will caucus with us."

Pretty much. Other than the question of who holds a majority of seats, I didn't really see a downside to a Democrat representing a state full of Democrats.

But apparently that business about a majority of seats matters to those political types.

Posted by: McGehee at 8:25 AM on 13 September 2006

More power to them, I say. I don't know why the dinomedia insists on calling him a "moderate" Republican. He's clearly a liberal Republican. There's nothing wrong with being a liberal Republican, at least, not in Rhode Island.

Posted by: Dan at 9:41 AM on 13 September 2006