what do you think of Lincoln Chafee ?

[JI7]

do we need to get rid of him even if he is a moderate and support a Democrat ? polls show a Democrat can beat him.

of course if Chafee himself switched to Democratic or even Independent and agreed to support a Democrat for Majority Leader then i'm sure he would get support of the Democratic Party.

but if he stays a Republican he will face competition and likely lose.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. It's much better to have an actual Democrat

Especially if you can easily get one, which seems to be the case.

[cestpaspossible]

2. He's a Republican.

He needs to be defeated. That's what partisanship is about. If he wants the support of Democrats he needs to become a Democrat.

[Warpy]

10. Right, because his party affiliation counts toward a party majority

even if he votes against them on many issues. A party majority is a powerful thing even if it doesn't translate to votes on issues, because it does translate into committee chairmanships and those ARE powerful positions. Committee chairs decide which bills are considered by the committee and which bills are thrown out without consideration.

If he's loath to leave the party of Lincoln (even though it left him), the only way he should be allowed to continue is as an independent.

Otherwise, it's sad to see a basically decent human being go, but dump that chump. The last thing anyone needs is another body on the GOP side.

[WI_DEM]

3. He's a republican

we have tried to get him to switch and he won't. I hope he is targeted and we can pick up his seat.

[JI7]

4. he has ruled out switching entirely ?

i know he hasn't until now but there hasn't been much reason to since it wouldn't change Senate control. maybe if he could pull a "Jeffords" he might.

but you might be right in regards to his next election. if he doesn't agree to switch (democratic or independent) then we wont have much choice.

[WI_DEM]

6. I would welcome him if he did switch

but if he isn't then I prefer we elect a progressive democrat.

[B0S0X87]

5. I hear he might face a pro-life dem

There's been a lot of talk that Representative James Langevin might go for his seat. Judging by his voting record, he's very populist when it comes to economic issues; something a lot of people here have been saying we should aim for.

[Warpy]

11. All these fetus fetishist "Dems" being pushed to run

leads me to believe that the DLC really are Repuglican plants, and that this is their dying gasp, their last attempt to destroy the party utterly before they're pushed off into obscurity.

[WI_DEM]

13. most dems are pro-choice

and most of our candidates are too.

[B0S0X87]

25. Look at his voting record

I guarentee you the DLC is not a big fan of him.

[dolstein]

29. There's nothing more pathetic than a liberal Republican

He empowers the very people who work to undo everything he claims to believe in.

[B0S0X87]

32. I was talking about Langevin

He's a populist who's more conservative in some areas than a lot of DUers would like to see in their elected officials.

[kentuck]

7. If they haven't been persuaded to change Party by policies of Bush....

Then I think we can write them off as hardcore Repubs.

[SaveElmer]

8. He's like Connie Morella in Maryland

Usually voted the correct side on most issues, but it was her votes for Delay, Gingrich, Hastert et al for leader that finally got her beat 2 years ago....

Chaffee deserves the same fate!

[whometense]

9. He's a moderate,

but he's a repug in a blue, blue state. He seems like a nice guy, but it seems like Rhode Island should be a relatively easy pickup for us.

[hughee99]

18. I don't know about a "relatively easy pickup"...

While yes, RI is a blue state, Chafee has a few things going for him. First, although RI is a blue state when it comes to presidential elections, and the state legislature, they do have a Republican Governor and a growing republican minority in the statehouse. Second, he's the son of a very long serving senator from RI, and family ties can mean a good deal in getting elected/reelected. And finally, as a relatively liberal republican, Rhode Islanders enjoys getting their view out on both sides of the aisle without having to really compromise their beliefs. I'm not saying that he couldn't be beat, but you won't be able to beat him by just running any democrat, and IMHO Langevin is just "any democrat". Maybe if Rep. Kennedy ran for his seat, but not Langevin.

[JI7]

20. i believe polls show Langevin beating Chafee

[hughee99]

21. I was not aware of that.

Chafee does have a good deal of money, though, and I would be surprised if the DNC or DNSC put that much $$ into Langevin's campaign since beating a far right repuke might be a greater priority than defeating Chafee. If Langevin does beat Chafee, that would be fine with me, but I'm skeptical as to whether the current polls would be accurate come election time and the candidates start spending their campaign donations on advertising.

[Blue_Tires]

12. I'm in RI (for the moment)

it was said that he would have switched if it turned the tide of the majority, but i guess in his thinking, there is simply too much power to give up in going from a majority to minority party...

He's pretty conservative fiscally, moderate to liberal on social issues, BUT his environmental record is where he really shines; he is greener than most dems...AND he's not afraid to vote against the party line.

Unfortunately, the party seems bent on trying to him with a DINO (langevin), so which is better?

[WI_DEM]

16. A Dino?

Langevin has a 85% voting rating with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action while Chafee is at 45%. Sounds like an improvement to me.

[Blue_Tires]

17. ok...DINO was a bit harsh

I know how important it is to regain senate control, and even though chafee has an 'R' by his name, he is generally liberal, does NOT like the bush admin, is willing to vote against his own party and is a staunch environmentalist....Personally, I'd MUCH rather see the party spend energy on removing the most extreme RW congressmen (Inhofe, coburn, Santorum, etc)

[JI7]

26. that's the thing, it wouldn't take much to defeat Chafee

all it would take is for the Party to back his Democratic opponent. not much money would or should be needed.

[ProgressiveConn]

34. If he pulls a Jeffords I'd have no problem leaving him uncontested.

Until he does so he should be CONSTANTLY criticized for talking big about leaving the GOP and then not doing so. We should support the pro-life Democrat as long as he goes publicly on record that his goal is to "reduce abortions not to make them illegal" and as such he would never support an anti-choice judge.

We need to keep something in mind. In the past we have elected conservative Dems over Liberal Republicans. And as a result instead of having Lowell Wieker in the senate bashing the Bush regime and encouraging other Republicans to join him... we have Lieberman who is half in Bush's pocket...

[Blue_Tires]

36. harder than you think

Chafee has decent popularity, is the son of a legendary senator, and his last name alone carries a lot of weight in the state (sound familiar?)

[JerseygirlCT]

35. I can see the logic in his thought

if he couldn't swing the majority the other way, why not stay in the GOP and use the superior clout of that party for as long as he can? (Before he's dead to them for voting against the party line).

I'm not eager to see any serious resouces go into fighting Chafee when there are SO SO SO many truly awful Republicans to fight. Chafee just isn't the enemy. And I'm not thrilled at the prospect of an anti-choice candidate -- GOP or Dem.

[saltpoint]

14. As Republicans go, I prefer him to Imhofe, Coburn,

Santorum, Cornyn, and the rest of the macabre bunch.

I propose a swap of sorts. We feed Tom Coburn to the crocodiles and let Chafee have that seat, clearing the RI race for a Democratic win next time. No one will miss Coburn and red voters in Oklahoma might learn something.

[pf99]

19. Outstaning Idea!!!!!

Except for the poor crocodiles.

Sure they will regergitate Tom Coburn.

[saltpoint]

22. Damn it, you're right! I should think of the crocodiles'

dignity in this.

Oh well. The proposal will have to be tweaked.

____
: ) -- loved your post, pf99.

[Hippo_Tron]

24. Chafee couldn't get elected in Oklahoma even if he were from there

A Carson vs. Chafee race would've been a Carson landslide because Carson is more conservative than Chafee.

[saltpoint]

40. Yes. It's a sharp drop-off from the John Chaffee and --

-- now Lincoln Chaffee Republican Party to the right-wing imbalanced Tom Coburn.

[rox63]

15. He's not bad for a Republican

But I would much prefer a Democrat take his seat. He's a New England Republican. And except for New Hampshire, most New England Republicans would probably be considered liberal Democrats in more conservative states. If he can't be turned to either a Democrat, or to an Independent that caucuses with the Dems (like Jeffords), he should be booted out of office. Rhode Island is a blue state, and they should be represented by Dems.

[mattclearing]

23. Make him an offer...and if he doesn't take it, run him into the ground.

A Democrat is a Democrat and a Republican is a Republican.

Jeffords aside, either he has a D after his name, or we run someone strong against him, in my book.

I'd say the same for faux Dems like Lieberman. That guy needs a strong primary challenge in the worst way.

[Padraig18]

27. He's a Repub--- beat him like a red-headed stepchild!

What do you mean, "do we need to get rid of him?". Of course we do.

[QC]

28. He's a Republican. That means he's part of the problem.

Send him home.

[leyton]

30. This is what the GOP did to us in the South.

Even though they had relatively conservative Senators in guys like Max Cleland, they wasted no time cleaning out Democrats all over the place (although I guess more so in the governorships since five of our Senators just up and resigned). We should return the favor.

[MoonRiver]

31. If he won't switch he needs to be replaced by a Dem.

Every Dem we have in the Senate helps us take back the leadership. That is all important now.

[whometense]

33. Agree.

As it goes, he has the familiarity thing and the family name thing going for him, but compared to some other seats this one seems like an easier bet. And we need every single seat we can wrestle away from the repugs.

[safi0]

37. The thing about Chafee

is that in 2006 he should be a high priority because compared to some others he could be beaten. You guys mentioned Inhofe and Coburn, Inhofe isn't up for re-election untill 08 and Cobun until 2010 and even then, those guys will be difficult to beat. If Chafee switched parties great, if not your gonna face a stuff challenge in 2006. I think Sanotorun should be #1 on the list but after that perhpas Chafee should be 2

[bywho4who]

38. I don't feel that he is one

of the knee-jerk Senators No matter his party affiliation. :|

[safi0]

39. We have a 10 seat deficit in the Senate right now

11 if you count Jeffords as an Independent. Whenever we have the opportunity to cut that deficit we have to seize it. The likelihood of us being able to unseat an Inhofe or Coburn or Lott are very slim because they come from extremely Republican strong states. Which means we have to go after the Snowe's or the Collins' or the Chafee's, or else the Republicans are gonna retain control of the Senate

[GOPBasher]

41. Good question.

I don't know what I think about this. On one hand, he's a good politician, IMO. He didn't support Bush's tax cuts, Bush's war, and he's good on social issues. On the other hand, I'd like another person to vote for the Dem for majority leader. His "R" after his name helps Republicans, even if he doesn't support their major policy initiatives.