[dangus]

Sorry to shout but...A Democrat in RI would be MUCH better than Chafee! Here's why: The reason the Senate essentially is Demonrat-run is that there are a handful of Republicans who reliably vote as Democrats in committee. For some reason, the Republicans keep mostly 10-8 splits in committee assignments. If one Republican on a committee switches sides, the result is a 9-9 deadlock. By ousting Chafee and DeWine, we can switch about 40% of the committees from essentially Demonrat-controlled to Republican-controlled, and have a hope to move Republican legislation.

[AuH2ORepublican]

You nailed it regarding how Chafee makes committees that should have a 2-vote GOP advantage evenly split, thereby forfeiting GOP control over legislation. I actually wrote about that last year (when I argued that we'd be better off if Chafee switched), and a link to it is on post #175.

[staytrue]

and have a hope to move Republican legislation.

In the senate, you need sixty to pass anything and that means you need to compromise with the dems if you only have 55 like now.

[zbigreddogz]

Equating DeWine with Chafee is silly. DeWine might not be Tom Coburn, but he's with us FAR more then he is against us. That cannot be said of Chafee, which is right on essentially nothing. Chafee makes Arlen Specter look like a flaming right-wing nutjob, and Specter is to the left of DeWine easily.