Chafee Profile in Today's Globe

In case you missed it, there's a long profile on Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee in today's Boston Globe. It is mostly flattering, but it does point out the dilemma that Samuel Alito's nomination poses for the Republican Senator serving in an overwhelmingly Democratic state. From the article:

Liberal groups are already advertising in Rhode Island to urge Chafee to vote against Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, Samuel A. Alito Jr. Their massive letter-writing campaigns are being matched by efforts of conservative groups, who are joining forces with prominent Italian-American organizations in Rhode Island to push Chafee to support Alito.

"He has to be very worried about this vote," said Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University. "It's attracting a lot of local attention, and activists are engaged by this issue. He's under pressure from both sides."

The Democratic field in the Senate race includes former state attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse and Secretary of State Matthew A. Brown. Both are opposing Alito in a year that Democrats have high hopes for gains in the House and Senate, capitalizing on Bush's widespread unpopularity, discontent over the war in Iraq, and a series of GOP ethical lapses.

Chafee is waiting for the confirmation hearings in January to make up his mind, but has made clear that he has set the bar high for Alito, who would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the court. "It's a lifetime appointment," he said. "There's some critical issues that have been decided in the past with Sandra Day O'Connor in the majority. There is a lot at stake here."

It would seem that Senator Chafee is in a bind. He often tries to walk the middle ground, but he will not be able to dodge this issue. If he votes against Alito, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey will use it like a hammer in his primary challenge. If he votes in favor, he can expect trouble in the general election, as Sheldon Whitehouse or Matt Brown (the Democratic contenders) will be quick to remind people that when the chips were down, Chafee sided with Bush over the interests of his constituents. No wonder the national Republicans are spending so much money on this race -- there are dozens more issues like this between now and November, and no matter what stand he takes, there's someone waiting to use it against him.

Whitehouse Links Linc to White House

I usually like to focus on Massachusetts politics to the exclusion of national politics and other issues, but I have to admit that I still have a nostalgic fondness for Rhode Island. It's where I went to college, and more importantly where I started dating and eventually married my wife. So, if you'll indulge me, I may from time-to-time post about the 2006 Rhode Island Senate race where Democrats are trying to unseat incumbent Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee. Today, I stumbled upon an E Plurbus Media interview with former RI Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, the front runner in the Democratic primary. Here is what Whitehouse has to say about Chafee:

According to most public polls, he is polling 41 to my 36 -- and I've been in the race only three months now. I outraised him two-to-one in the last quarter. And Rhode Island is fundamentally a blue state.

He goes down to Washington and votes for the Republican leadership. And while he can walk away from them on individual votes, Rhode Island would be better-served -- and I'm going to be able to make the case that Rhode Island will be better-served, given our values and our interests -- by somebody who will not vote for Bill Frist, but who will support a Democratic majority leader. After that, there are dozens of different votes we can get into. But I think that fundamentally, when Senator Chafee aids and abets the Republican leadership of the Senate and the Bush administration, he's distancing himself from the people of Rhode Island.

And I think they know it, and I think that's why he's in trouble here. Nothing against him personally, he's a fine individual, [Sheldon and his family are long-time friends of Chafee and his family] but he is simply in an impossible position between the values and interests of Rhode Island, and the schemes and devices of the Bush administration.

Also amusing is Whitehouse's take on John Bolton:

I've been involved in some of the biggest reforms in Rhode Island in the last 15 or 20 years -- reform of the banking system after the banking crisis, reform of the separation of powers, reform of the workers' compensation system, reform of judicial nominations and ethics reform -- and I've never found the cause of reform advanced by having somebody put a stick in the eye of the institutions he wants to reform. You have to have an underlying respect for the institution in order to do the job of reform right, in my opinion. And it doesn't appear that John Bolton has any underlying respect for either the United Nations as an institution or the job the UN was created to perform.

The strategy is obvious -- link Chafee to the unpopular (in Rhode Island anyway) Republican administration as often as possible. To be fair, Chafee can come back and say that he didn't even cast a vote for Bush this time around, but the more he admits that, the less likely that RI Republican true believers will go to the mattresses for him. It will be an interesting race to follow, very much in contrast to our own already pre-determined 2006 Senate race, where the state GOP can't even find a sacrificial lamb to at least tie Senator Ted Kennedy down so he can't fundraise for other candidates.