I think I know the answer to this, but is there any remote chance Laffey could get enough GOP activist votes to knock off Chafee in the primary? Or better yet, run as an independent in a three-way race with two leftists?
One would hope Laffey could win. If you look up "RINO" in the dictionary you will see Lincoln Chafee's smiling face.
I should point out that Chafee is way to the left of most Democrats on this one. It would be nice if there was a sane Democrat in the mold of Zell Miller or Joseph Lieberman to run to Mr. Chafee's right as a Democrat. I don't know enough about Rhode Island politics (other than the state almost always votes Democrat) to know if such a person exists.
Very possible that Chafee could get bumped in the primary. In fact more likely that it happens in the primary than in the November election. Having worked on his last Mayoral campaign I can tell you that ALL of Laffey's supporters will show up at the polls on election day. Chafee's only hope is that unaffiliated voters choose to vote in the Republican primary and that the vast majority of them go his way. If Laffey drags Linc into a few debates it will get REAL ugly. I don't think Chafee has enough upstairs to go one on one with the Mayor.