Chafee says he will vote against Alito

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If Chaffee is voting based upon what the folks in Rhode Island want, then good for him. It's not his job to represent some national political party, it his job to represent Rhode Island.

So two questions

Why should Chaffee not represent the people of Rhode Island? (for the GOP)

Why should Nelson not represent the people of Nebraska? (for the Dems)

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Polling is fun and all, and can be interesting to look at and can tell part of a story to people that know how to read them, but that certainly wasn't the end all be all of what I'm talking about when I say "represent the people of...".

Angus got this one about right, he has political issues which ever way he votes. If he set those aside and actually is doing what Ian Lang said Chaffe was going to do (see the post by Angus) - then good for him. That is, of course, not saying that I believe any of our Senators have the ability to set aside the political calculus of matters and how issues can be spun to gain support from their partisans or those that simply don't pay attention.