Cranston, R.I. – Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., always sounds so polite and sincere, even when he’s wrapping his hands around his opponent’s throat.
“Eight years as a top law enforcement official in Rhode Island and not a single successful conviction of a public official,” Chafee said during a debate Monday night with his Democratic challenger, Sheldon White house. “He’s always looking after the power brokers and his own political career.”
The attack left the former state attorney general seething. Chafee is “just making this stuff up entirely out of whole cloth,” Whitehouse shot back.
What happened to the affable fellow who drives a hybrid and studied classics at Brown University? Well, his political career is on the line, and the gutter seems the best hope for salvation. Chafee has slogged through two tough campaigns this year, against a conservative primary opponent and now in the general election against Whitehouse.
He survived the first round. Next week, polls suggest, he may not be so lucky.
Whitehouse led Chafee in every poll published in October. Many political observers say the national climate has become too hostile for a Republican, even the moderate Chafee, to survive in one of the most Democratic states. President Bush’s approval rating here is 22 percent.
“He’s very much the underdog and has been forced into an attack strategy,” said Darrell West, a Brown political science professor and pollster.
“I always look at my opponent’s record,” Chafee said. “When I see shortcomings, I bring them to the voters’ attention.”
