[Gothmog]

Sounds speculative, but it may be worth keeping an eye out for next week

[Txsleuth]

Ping

[dynachrome]

Interesting. I had no idea Laffey was doing so well. If he wasn't there would be no speculation.

[12th_Monkey]

He's as good as a democRAT anyway. No true conservatives in that neck of the woods anyway.

[Txsleuth]

Since Chaffee rode point for the crowd looking for a quick way out of Iraq...

If I were Dole, I would ask for the money back...saying he STOLE those funds by pretending to be a Republican.

Or...just cut their loses...and get more funds..and possibly Pres. Bush to endorse Laffey.

[NonValueAdded]

This would create an interesting dilemma for Elizabeth Dole and the NRSC, which has already pumped a lot of cash into Chafee's re-election

which is exactly why the NRSC will never see another dime of my money. I'LL DECIDE where my hard-earned dollars will go.

[So Cal Rocket]

Chafee is the reason I did not contribute to the NRSC this year... I'm targeting all my donations to specific candidates... and Steve Laffey is one of them.

[AntiGuv]

It would make very little sense for Chafee to run as an Independent. There is no chance he could win as an Independent if he cannot win the GOP primary in the first place. The Democrats planning to vote for Whitehouse will stick with Whitehouse regardless and he's already polling in the low 40s. Any Republicans who would vote Laffey in the GOP primary certainly aren't gonna suddenly 'see the light' and vote for Chafee as an Independent over Laffey as the Republican nominee. That would be absurd. So, it's just stupid IMO for Chafee to think he'd be better off running as an Independent. No way.

[winner3000]

I hope he switches to independent. He and the Democrat will split the liberal vote and the Republican will get all the conservative votes. We may end up with a real Republican as a senator!

[Reactionary]

It's unfortunate that Chafee isn't man enough to join up with the communists.

[nickcarraway]

Isn't Chaffee leading that race easily?

[monkeyshine]

Lame. If he does this he'd be a sore loser, and only reaffirm the corruptive influence political power has on many of our country's leaders.

Hey, I didn't make the two party system, and I didn't make the rules, but it's just bad sport to say that after all these terms serving his party and his state that, when the time comes that the members of the party lean towards not re-electing him that he would run as an independent and ensure that the seat goes to the opposition. Bad sportsmanship.

[mware]

After his vote today he might as well switch over to the Dem's.

[Republican Red]

Chafee the Republican [John J. Miller]

Brian Nick of the NRSC, in a phone conversation a minute ago: "There is no possibility that Chafee will run as an independent." We'll know for sure by next Wednesday afternoon.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/

[got_moab?]

Chafee spokesman Ian Lang has denied this twice in two days, I personally don't see him jumping. That being said, Chafee's wife spearheaded a campaign to convince Democrats to switch party affiliations in order to vote in the Republican party in a desperate to safe the hide of her wet noodle hubby. Apparently it was a success, as of the deadline 14,000 Democrats had switched their affiliation to Republican. Should be interesting.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Chaffee should just cut the BS and do what he really wants to do...join the Democrat party. He's no Conservative and is so far left of Joe Lieberman that Lieberman would need a telescope to see him.

[demkicker]

If Chafee is smart, he'll come up with an excuse to not run at all. Otherwise, I have a sneaky feeling he's going down and we'll enjoy the hell out of the payback.

On another note, I wish Lieberman would pick this time to switch to the GOP.