RINO Hunting: Lincoln Chafee
Written by Mark Harris on May 4th, 2005Meet Steve Laffey… Bret Schundler + Pat Toomey = Victory?
Lincoln Chafee appears to be running for re-election, but his campaign account only shows $765,498 cash on hand after the first quarter, not a strong showing for an incumbant running in what will be a seriously up hill fight. Mayor Steve Laffey has begun letting people know that he will likely challenge Lincoln Chafee in a Republican Primary to the right. Laffey appears to be built in the model of a Bret Schundler, mayor of a who has been a solid conservative but has the populist credentials to run statewide. Laffey won his re-election to mayor with 65% of the vote and is regarded as extremely popular.
Sadly, national Republican leaders have begun the game of telling him to run against the incumbant at his own risk saying that only Chafee has a chance to hold the seat. (Obviously they haven’t seen Chafee’s re-elects with border on the abysmal.) A Chafee-Laffey primary would be another fight pitting the RINOs + The Establishment (Bushies) vs. The Base. Laffey would definitely have a shot and if he won the general would be an obvious improvement over the uber RINO Chafee.
The big question is whether or not Laffey could win the general election. So far the only declared Democratic candidate is Secretary of State Matt Brown, and with Schumer pushing pro-life Congressman Langevin out of the running it means the Republicans could likely be competitive with Laffey who doesn’t have a lot of the personality issues that have plagued Chafee of late. Either way, Chafee re-elects (in the mid 30’s according to the DSCC, admitedly a biased source) are so bad its worth a shot.
Laffey for Senate!
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I hate to burst the Laffey bubble early, but his credentials on at least one issue (Illegal Immigration) seem questionable. His website prominently features a visit with Pastor Robin Hoover, who can be read about here:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_030205I.shtml
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I think I should add that I don’t believe immigration, if Mayor Laffey is “weak” on it should be a deal breaker. Chafee is bad news all around. A brief check on Yahoo! shows fewer than 200 matches for “Laffey RINO” and more than 3,500 for “Chafee RINO” (second of which is Mark’s post). Just FYI.
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Yeah I mean few people are perfect like Pat Toomey is (lol) but I think Laffey is def better than Chafee.
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You have to admit though RI is different then PA. Toomey had a good shot at winning in the general election but I am not convinced yet Laffey could.
Chafee votes to break the filibuster doesn’t he?
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Jacobite,
Chafee’s problem is that he isn’t like while Laffey apparently is. Like I said its no shoe in, but neither is Chafee who is carrying tons of baggage right now.
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