RI-Sen: Laffey of too a strong start.

[Moooooo]

Chafee challengers raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Candidates hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee in next yea's U.S. Senate race have each reported raising hundreds of thousands of dollars so far.

Stephen Laffey, a Republican, reported nearly $380,000 in campaign contributions since entering the Senate race a month ago, according to a survey of the 2006 Senate candidates taken by The Providence Journal.

Laffey said he now has almost $600,000, which includes a personal loan, in his campaign war chest.

"We're off to a powerful start," Laffey said.

Among Democrats, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse said he received about $600,000 in the fund-raising quarter that ended Sept. 30. Whitehouse, who declared his candidacy at the end of March, has more than $1.3 million in cash on hand.

Secretary of State Matt Brown took in more than $400,000 in the third quarter and has about $600,000 total in the bank.

Laffey and Whitehouse have loaned their campaigns about $360,000.

Chafee did not report his third-quarter fund-raising totals for the newspaper's survey. But he raised more than $500,000 in the first two quarters of 2005 combined.

The candidates are required to file public reports about their campaign contributions later this month.

Jennifer Duffy, an analyst of Senate races for The Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C., cautioned against making too much of Laffey's success in quickly raising a large amount of money.

"Your first quarter should be the easiest," Duffy told the Journal. "This is when you get all your friends to help. This is when you make 100 calls and get 99 yeses. After this, it gets much harder."

Chafee was appointed to the Senate in 1999 to fill the vacancy created when his father, Sen. John Chafee, died. He won a full term in 2000 and is seeking re-election.

[12th Doctor]

Chafee challengers raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Candidates hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee in next yea's U.S. Senate race have each reported raising hundreds of thousands of dollars so far.

Stephen Laffey, a Republican, reported nearly $380,000 in campaign contributions since entering the Senate race a month ago, according to a survey of the 2006 Senate candidates taken by The Providence Journal.

Laffey said he now has almost $600,000, which includes a personal loan, in his campaign war chest.

"We're off to a powerful start," Laffey said.

Among Democrats, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse said he received about $600,000 in the fund-raising quarter that ended Sept. 30. Whitehouse, who declared his candidacy at the end of March, has more than $1.3 million in cash on hand.

Secretary of State Matt Brown took in more than $400,000 in the third quarter and has about $600,000 total in the bank.

Laffey and Whitehouse have loaned their campaigns about $360,000.

Chafee did not report his third-quarter fund-raising totals for the newspaper's survey. But he raised more than $500,000 in the first two quarters of 2005 combined.

The candidates are required to file public reports about their campaign contributions later this month.

Jennifer Duffy, an analyst of Senate races for The Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C., cautioned against making too much of Laffey's success in quickly raising a large amount of money.

"Your first quarter should be the easiest," Duffy told the Journal. "This is when you get all your friends to help. This is when you make 100 calls and get 99 yeses. After this, it gets much harder."

Chafee was appointed to the Senate in 1999 to fill the vacancy created when his father, Sen. John Chafee, died. He won a full term in 2000 and is seeking re-election.

Well, if this guy wins, I hope the GOP is prepared the "Laffey" off the huge pummeling we are going to take in Rhode Island come election time.

[Frodo]

Are primaries in Rhode Island closed or open?  If open, I strongly urge that every Democrat of voting age in Rhode Island vote for Stephen Laffey in the Republican primary. 

[Keystone Phil]

I know Laffey would have an uphill battle in the general but I think too many people are underestimating him.

[WalterMitty]

I know Laffey would have an uphill battle in the general but I think too many people are underestimating him.

chafee is going to kick laffey's ass. 

you odnt have a general election to worry about.

[Keystone Phil]

chafee is going to kick laffey's ass. 

I don't know how it'll work in the primary but here's hoping Laffey atleast gives the RINO a good run.

[Sarnstrom]

Are primaries in Rhode Island closed or open?  If open, I strongly urge that every Democrat of voting age in Rhode Island vote for Stephen Laffey in the Republican primary. 

From the Rhode Island Board of Elections Webpage:

Rhode Island has a 'closed' or party primary system. This means that you may only vote in one party's primary. If you are registered as "unaffiliated" you may vote in the primary of any party you choose. Once you vote in a primary, however, you are considered a member of that party until and unless you "disaffiliate".

[WalterMitty]

laffey is bluffing.

i hear he wants to be president of uri.  he is using this 'challenge' to get the governor to give him the job at uri.

[12th Doctor]

chafee is going to kick laffey's ass. 

I don't know how it'll work in the primary but here's hoping Laffey atleast gives the RINO a good run.

Phil, did it ever occure to you that Chaffee is the only kind of Republican that can get elected in many parts of the country, so it is better off him than no one?  Anyone more conservative than Chaffee is going to get creamed in RI.  Laffey has no chance.  At least with Chaffee, we have a better chance of holding our majority in the Senate.

Not to mention that I don;t really have a problem with Chaffee.  For a Seantor from RI, he represents his state with about as well as can be hoped for, which is what he is there for.

[Keystone Phil]

chafee is going to kick laffey's ass. 

I don't know how it'll work in the primary but here's hoping Laffey atleast gives the RINO a good run.

Phil, did it ever occure to you that Chaffee is the only kind of Republican that can get elected in many parts of the country, so it is better off him than no one?  Anyone more conservative than Chaffee is going to get creamed in RI.  Laffey has no chance.  At least with Chaffee, we have a better chance of holding our majority in the Senate.

Not to mention that I don;t really have a problem with Chaffee.  For a Seantor from RI, he represents his state with about as well as can be hoped for, which is what he is there for.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe I am not just blindly standing by someone because of their party? Did it ever occur to you that maybe the beliefs of a candidate are more important to me? Yes, this race is a tough one. Chafee is really the type of candidate the party needs up there. However, the fact remains that he is a RINO and I am not standing by him when he has a more conservative challenger.

And to totally destroy your argument about anyone more conservative than Chafee getting creamed, have you have taken a look at their Governor?

To say Laffey has no chance is foolish.

[TeePee4Prez]

All I have to say is this Laffey Taffey will get licked!  SHAKE THAT LAFFEY TAFFEY! THE LAFFEY TAFFEY!

[12th Doctor]

chafee is going to kick laffey's ass. 

I don't know how it'll work in the primary but here's hoping Laffey atleast gives the RINO a good run.

Phil, did it ever occure to you that Chaffee is the only kind of Republican that can get elected in many parts of the country, so it is better off him than no one?  Anyone more conservative than Chaffee is going to get creamed in RI.  Laffey has no chance.  At least with Chaffee, we have a better chance of holding our majority in the Senate.

Not to mention that I don;t really have a problem with Chaffee.  For a Seantor from RI, he represents his state with about as well as can be hoped for, which is what he is there for.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe I am not just blindly standing by someone because of their party? Did it ever occur to you that maybe the beliefs of a candidate are more important to me? Yes, this race is a tough one. Chafee is really the type of candidate the party needs up there. However, the fact remains that he is a RINO and I am not standing by him when he has a more conservative challenger.

And to totally destroy your argument about anyone more conservative than Chafee getting creamed, have you have taken a look at their Governor?

To say Laffey has no chance is foolish.

Carcieri ran in the Republican year of 2002, first off.  Even if we make gains in Senate in 06, it will be just because of dumb luck.  Secondly, he ran against corruption in the state government and on a set of issues that are not national in scope.

Second, I'm not asking you to vote blindly for party, I am asking you to look at the bigger picture.  If the Democrats take back control of the Senate, then the bills coming to the floor are going to look a lot different than what we have now, because the Democrats will control the committees.  It doesn't matter if they have 50 seats or 55, this will be the case.  Think of a Senate Judiciary Committee Controled by Teddy Kennedy, cause that is what we are going to get.

Third, at least with Chafee, we get what we want half the time (more than half for me, since I am not a strict conservative).  If a Democrat gets in there, he might vote with us... 15% of the time.  If that.

Laffey won't win, Phil.  Even if he has the appeal to win, the national party is not going to waste money financing him when they can spend it on Kennedy, Santorum and Talent.

[Keystone Phil]

Carcieri ran in the Republican year of 2002, first off.  Even if we make gains in Senate in 06, it will be just because of dumb luck.  Secondly, he ran against corruption in the state government and on a set of issues that are not national in scope.

You said someone more conservative than Chafee can't win. The truth is that conservatives can win. Would it be an uphill battle? Yes. Impossible? No.

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If we were seriously in trouble of losing the Senate, I'd reconsider but that's not the case.

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Chafee is a serious thorn in our side.

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It's premature to say that, Super. I don't see the party just giving up on the seat.

[12th Doctor]

You said someone more conservative than Chafee can't win. The truth is that conservatives can win. Would it be an uphill battle? Yes. Impossible? No.

State races are often quite different from national ones.  I think that if you had learned one thing in the past two years, that would be it.  A national candidate is going to be forced to run on a different set of issues.  The abortion issue is going to be the only winner for us in RI, but the Democrats will do what they can to take focus away from that.

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Phil, if you don't think that the Republican Party is in trouble for '06, then I don't know what to tell you.  Yes, it is true that a number of Senate Democrats have low approval ratings right now, but that doesn't mean we are going to be able to find candidates that can take them out, and so far, we haven't.  Meanwhile, the media is not giving us a break on Iraq.  We are probably going to need to take action against Iran, which is going to increase the warwaeriness of the public.  Several of our key Senators are looking vulnerable, including Talent and Santorum.  The pro-war base and John Ford types are getting anxious because of problems with our forign policy.  The social conservative base is angry over Miers (Rush Limbaugh, Bob Novak and others are not helping much).  And we still can't convince the moderates to join us over the Democrats.  The divides in the country keep getting bigger, regardless of who is to blame, while we might not be losing, we aren't winning either, and as the majority party, we are going to take the blame for the lack of unitey in this country, whether that is fair or not.

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How?  It isn't like he has stabbed us in the back or anything.  He's doing what he said he was going to do.  Do we really depend on him for anything?  No.

If you don't like Chafee, then I can gurentee you you won't like whatever Kennedy Cadet ends up in there if we go with Laffey.

And, if we get rid of Chafee, it's just going to prove to swing voters that we hav no interest in appealing to them.  It won't help our cause to look just as nasty and mean spirited as the Democrats.

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Phil, it's just common sense.  If we are down 8% in the polls in RI, and have some really close races going on else where, then we aren't going to spend money where it isn't going to do us any good.  Meanwhile, Democrats in RI out number us about 3-5, so they are going to have a better base from which to raise money.

The only thing Laffey would have going for him is that I cannot imagine the Providence air time is too expensive.  But if that helps us, it helps the Dems too.

[Keystone Phil]

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You know the GOP is in trouble in 2005, Super. I don't know what to tell you people that can't distinguish 2005 from 2006. Make these complaints sometime next year. In the meantime, I'm not going to say we're in trouble a year away.

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How many times to we have to worry whether or not he'll be with us on votes? I'd rather take the risk of getting rid of him in a primary than having to definetley deal with him because we are afraid of the RI Dems.

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Yep. We should have backed away from Toomey, too, because we were thumbing our nose at swing voters, right Super?

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It's not "just common sense." The GOP cannot afford to just give up in RI and it's not the guarenteed loss you think it is. Laffey is an impressive candidate who would have a chance at the seat.

[AuH2O]

Laffey is massively underrated.

But I also believe he is bluffing.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And to totally destroy your argument about anyone more conservative than Chafee getting creamed, have you have taken a look at their Governor?

Does that mean reasonably liberal Democrats can get elected to the Senate in Wyoming and Kansas?

Laffey has no chance, the reason Chaffee gets elected isn't even really his moderateness, it's his family name. No Republican that isn't named Chaffee can win a Senate seat in Rhode Island.

[12th Doctor]

Yep. We should have backed away from Toomey, too, because we were thumbing our nose at swing voters, right Super?

I knew this was coming.  First off, Toomey could have won here, because PA is not RI and Toomey was not really that conservative to begin with, not as he was portrayed, or as his campaign portrayed him as being.

Secondly, I didn't back Toomey because he was conservative and Specter was a moderate.  I backed Toomey because I liked Toomey and Specter constantly lies about who he is and tries to play both sides.  Chafee is honest about who he is and what he stands for.  Specter is also personally reprehensable.  Chafee is not.

These situations are far too different to be compared to one another.

[Jake]

Are primaries in Rhode Island closed or open?  If open, I strongly urge that every Democrat of voting age in Rhode Island vote for Stephen Laffey in the Republican primary. 

They won't if the Democratic Primary stays like it is.

[Smash255]

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You know the GOP is in trouble in 2005, Super. I don't know what to tell you people that can't distinguish 2005 from 2006. Make these complaints sometime next year. In the meantime, I'm not going to say we're in trouble a year away.

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How many times to we have to worry whether or not he'll be with us on votes? I'd rather take the risk of getting rid of him in a primary than having to definetley deal with him because we are afraid of the RI Dems.

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Yep. We should have backed away from Toomey, too, because we were thumbing our nose at swing voters, right Super?

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It's not "just common sense." The GOP cannot afford to just give up in RI and it's not the guarenteed loss you think it is. Laffey is an impressive candidate who would have a chance at the seat.

No Phil, this is  Rhode Island.  Laffey has no chance period of winning a general election.  laffey wins the primary the seat becomes a safe Dem pickup.  We aren't talking about a state that leans Dem here, we are talking about a very stong Democratic state.  State type races someone who is somewhat conservative may pull it off, for Govenor & what not, but a Govenor's race & and senate race ihas different issues.  Not to mention when the GOP took the Governship in 02, the Republicans were doing very well nationwide.  Now while things in 06, might be better for the GOP than 05 (although I don't think so), but even if they are their is no way in hell Bush's approval is going to be in 2002 levels at 20-25 points higher than it is now.  Thats not going to happen.  Chafee is the only chance the GOP has at keeping the seat, he loses the primary its over

[A18]

Laffey is massively underrated.

It's Rhode Island. When's the last time we had a real Republican senator from there?

[AuH2O]

That's just the thing. Laffey isn't really conservative. He's running a McCain-style campaign based on "reform" and such things. Very similar actually to Kean, Jr. in NJ.

People just assume he's much more conservative than Chafee because he's running in the primary against him. He's not. He just wants something... maybe to be Senator, but more probably something else.

All you have to do is look at his website. It attacks the GOP almost as much as Democrats. Actually that's one reason to back Chafee-- it's not entirely clear Laffey will be much of an improvement.

Name recognition is not a big issue... this is Rhode Island we're talking about.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It doesn't matter how conservative he is. What matters is he is not named Chafee.

Imagine if Ben Nelson had a liberal challenger in the primaries and some Democrats argued he had a chance in the general.

[Defarge]

Any polling for the Republican Primary?

[© tweed]

Any polling for the Republican Primary?

The last poll from about ten days ago had Chaffee 44% v. Laffey 24%