In Rhode Island, it's a tight race for a moderate, Chafee discovers
By Kate Zernike
WARWICK, R.I. — Like his father before him, Sen. Lincoln Chafee has been the kind of Republican whom this Democratic state could embrace: a supporter of abortion rights, a champion of the environment.
His trouble now is his own party. One of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate, Chafee finds himself in a tight primary against Stephen Laffey, a populist Republican who is backed by a national conservative group and is traveling the state in a bright-yellow RV proclaiming himself the "Rhody Reformer."
The Rhode Island primary is the flip side of the battle between Sen. Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont just across the state line in Connecticut. Chafee is fighting for his survival because he voted against the Iraq war — the only Republican to do so — and has distanced himself from President Bush so much that he declined to vote for him in 2004, declaring that he would write in the first President Bush in protest.
Both campaigns show how a far flank of the party can shape a race even in a place like Rhode Island, where Republicans are a minority; the record in a Republican primary here is about 45,000 voters, and most people expect less than that on Sept. 12. They also indicate the peril of being a moderate in a polarized year.
"There has to be a place for moderates in our politics," Chafee said, campaigning at a recent parade. "The American public wants to see us work better together."
In a race that Chafee's supporters fear may be a bellwether, Rep. Joe Schwarz of Michigan, a moderate Republican, lost a primary challenge to an opponent supported by the Club for Growth, the conservative group backing Chafee's opponent.
But the stakes are far higher here for the party in power. Polls show that if Laffey wins the primary, he will lose the general election, handing the Democrats a seat from a blue state that has been held by Republicans since 1976.
Even if Chafee wins the primary, recent polls show him struggling to win the general election; this year, no matter how much Democrats like Chafee, they may care more about the letter after his name.
Chafee's latest ad emphasizes the anger he has drawn from both parties, the amount of money he has brought home and his desire to restore "a climate of civility, decency and hope" to politics.
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