This is bad news for the Democrat's hopes of recapturing the Senate. Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island faced a serious primary challenge from Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey. Chafee is the most liberal Republican in the Senate, and Laffey was a Reaganite mixture of social conservatism and populist anger. Many polls had this primary at a dead heat, or even with Laffey well ahead, until yesterday.
Had the socially conservative Laffey won the primary in Rhode Island, a state that went for Kerry over Bush 60-39%, he would have gone down to certain defeat in the general election against former state attorney general Dem. Sheldon Whitehouse.
As it is, Chafee is still in for a tough fight. His family is quite beloved in the state. But even his noted independence from the Bush Administration is meaning less and less to a Rhode Island electorate that knows come November, if the Republicans hold their majority, Chafee will vote for right-wing Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell to be his majority leader—not Democratic Sen. Harry Reid.
Still, Linc Chafee has proven he has the stomach to survive, and win, a bruising fight. Let's hope Whitehouse is ready for the same kind of match.
