PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 10, 2006
Chafee May Defect From GOP
Rhode Island Senator, Who Lost Re-Election Bid To Democrat, Says He's Unsure Of Future Party Affiliation
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Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., says he's not sure he'll remain a Republican. He lost his bid for re-election to a Democrat. (AP)
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Chafee lost to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in a race seen as a referendum on President Bush and the GOP. On Thursday, he was asked whether he would stick with the Republican Party or become an independent or Democrat.
"I haven't made any decisions. I just haven't even thought about where my place is," Chafee said at a news conference. When pressed on whether his comments indicated he might leave the GOP, he replied: "That's fair."
Chafee, 53, is a lifelong Republican who has represented Rhode Island for seven years. His father held the same seat for 23 years before that.
He is the most liberal Republican in the Senate and was the sole Senate Republican to vote against the war in Iraq. But that was not enough to prevail against Whitehouse, who shared many of Chafee's views but was a Democrat in a heavily Democratic state.
Chafee said he has not decided what to do after leaving office, but he hoped to stay involved in public life. He said his loss may have helped the country by switching control of Congress.
"The people have spoken all across America. They want the Democrats and Republicans to work together," he said. "I think the president now is going to have to talk to the Democrats. I think that's going to be good for America."
Chafee said he waged a lonely campaign to bring the party to the middle. He described attending weekly lunches with fellow GOP senators and standing up to argue his point of view, often alone.
"There were times walking into my caucus room where it wasn't fun," he said, adding that he stayed with the GOP largely because it helped him bring federal dollars home to Rhode Island.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





I like the rule they have/had in Tucson, AZ "Resign to run".
There is a place in the political system for Mr. Chafee, an environmentalist and a progressive but also a conservative, and America, more than ever, needs him.
Oh by the way Abramhov, and ENRON all worked with Democrats too. It's time for all of us to be honest, as painful as it is...
There's nothing to investigate... the money is brought back into the state via earmarks (pork) that get embedded into must pass legislation, like budget bills..
In it's simplest form, the party in power allows their own psrty's earmarks to stay in the bill, but strip out the oppositions, unless they get something in return, like a promise to vote a certain way on some other piece of legislation..
That is how our government is set up to work... to my mind though, most things that occur in our government have a very strange resemblance to either extortion or bribery...
- by kpokey November 10, 2006 4:49 PM EST
- The last paragraph of this story is BEGGING for a TV investigation. Why do you get more money, if you belong to a certain party (I am assuming the one in power)? I am sure the answer is as simple as the party in power has the power to distribute money, but that is just so wrong.
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