Go Laffey!
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In Rhode Island, Steve Laffey is squeezing Lincoln Chaffee in the GOP primary. Excellent. Chaffee was already having re-election problems versus his Democratic challengers, it would be even better to put up a crazy right-wing Republican up against a Dem in a state that should be ours in the first place.
17 Responses to “Go Laffey!”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
But the Chafee-Laffey contest is difficult to gauge. That’s because there are so few Republicans in the state — only about 25,000 vote in GOP primaries — and because unaffiliated voters, who make up about half the electorate, can show up and vote on primary day.
The RI Democratic party needs to get out the vote to make sure these “unaffiliated” voters vote for Laffey. Laffey doesn’t have a prayer in the general, he’s a Bush-licker in a state that goes against the pResident about 30-70.
It’s a tough call. Chafee is a legacy in my state. but Laffey’s a dick and didn’t make a lot of friends as mayor of Cranston (or Warwick, I forget).
On the other hand, I ain’t too happy with Linc’s performance of late either. I always thought he was a fairly moderate Repub., but now he’s just another Bushbot.
RI has always been a predominantly Blue state, current admin and voter turnout notwithstanding. I have always registered to vote as unaffiliated, because (maybe it’s the yankee mentality) I’d rather vote for the candidate than the party. If there was a person I could get behind in the R column, I would vote for them. Just haven’t seen very many.
But, curious, Oliver,why do you favor Laffey?
Never mind.
Chaffee versus Laffey.
That couldn’t happen by chance. Therefore there must be a God.
Furthermore, I dont believe there are enough pigheaded republicans in RI to nominate a wingnut!
I’m not sure this is such a great idea. Lincoln Chafee has voted to support environmental issues more than some democrats. The last thing this country needs are fewer moderates like Chafee, who care more about the issues than party loyalty.
Lincoln Chafee votes for Bill Frist for majority leader. Yeah, I can do without Lincoln Chaffee.
I thought Frist wasn’t doing such a great job for republicans…shouldn’t you be happy Frist was picked?
Oh, I want Frist as the Republican leader. I just want him to be minority leader.
But it’s not going to happen anyway. Besides, what make you think the democrats democrats can’t beat a moderate republican? Could it be that they are not giving the voters in RI an actual choice other than turning control of the Senate over to the democrats? That alone wont get it done.
I agree with Bushwacked. More moderate republicans in the Senate is not a bad thing. Plus the fact that the Democratic challengers are no great shakes either. Sheldon Whitehouse (another great name) is a former attorney general and US attorney who comes from a family of privilege and is more a democrat of convenience than of ideology. Matt Brown has already gotten in trouble for questionable fund raising tactics.
I don’t like to gamble, really (actually, I just suck at it). I don’t want to vote for Laffey in the primary on the off chance that he doesn’t win the general election. Especially when the challengers are so weak.
I was mad at Chafee for not supporting Russ Feingold, but, overall, he’s done a good job.
I’d rather have a moderate republican in the seat than a shitbag democrat.
Patrick Kennedy in the House, on the other hand, is a tool. Does anyone remember a couple of years ago when he got in a scuffle with a TSA screener at an airport? Tried going through a metal detector and not stopping to be screened? The screener was a black woman. It was Sen. McKinney all over again, but in reverse.
I guess thats where I differ. I’d rather a moderate to conservative Dem to a moderate Republican (the only “shitbag” is Lieberman, and there are Dems more conservative than him). I simply want more Democrats in the Senate, and I’ll take them any way I can (that includes Chaffee switching parties, which I don’t think is likely so he needs to get knocked off).
I’ll take a moderate Republican (or “maverick” conservative) if he comes from a solidly Republican state. That’s why I like Chuck Hagel. But there is no reason Rhode Island should have a Republican, period. Utah shouldn’t have a Democrat for the same reason.
Trying to influence the other side’s primary through crossover voting might sound good in theory, but in practice you can never persuade enough progressive independents to try it. It’s hard enough getting voters to vote in your own party’s primary, let alone the other party’s.
Since Chafee is actually more popular with independent voters in RI than with Republican voters, conventional wisdom in RI’s progressive blogosphere is that the best strategy for the Dems is to attract as many independents as possible to the Democratic primary, so there won’t be as many free to vote for Chafee in the Republican primary. This has the added advantage of giving said independent voters an emotional investment in the Democratic candidates come the general election.
And it’s always better to have a moderate Democrat in a Senate dominated by liberal Democrats than it is to have a moderate Republican in a Senate dominated by conservative Republicans.
Btw, a shout-out to kmareka.com for linking to this post.
Washington Post on the Chafee-Laffey Primary
Oliver Willis post on this WaPo article was entitled Go Laffey! and one of his commenters urged the Democratic party in Rhode Island to get out the vote for Laffey in order to set the stage for a Democratic victory. Another comme…