Chafee, Whitehouse attack each other in first Senate debate

[MaineDem]

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. --In a contentious first debate in the race for U.S. Senate, Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee accused Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of turning a blind eye to corruption, and Whitehouse accused Chafee of being part of the problem in Washington.

"America is going in the wrong direction right now. It is being led by the Bush administration and a Republican-controlled Senate," Whitehouse said in the live, hour-long radio appearance on WPRO-AM.

The candidates agree on major issues -- including opposition to the war in Iraq, support for legalizing gay marriage and oppose tax cuts for the rich -- so the campaign to date has focused on Chafee's Republican Party. Whitehouse has questioned whether voters in this heavily Democratic state want a Senate dominated by Republicans, while Chafee has argued that his conscience guides his votes, not GOP leaders.

"I'm completely independent of anybody, and the record shows that," Chafee said, adding "All summer long I was voting against the Republican agenda."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/10/13/chafee_whitehouse_meet_in_first_debate_in_senate_race/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

All summer long??? Voting against the agenda when it's campaign time? Chafee isn't the worst Republican but he IS a Republican and part of the culture of corruption and must be defeated.