"If Chafee had lost the GOP primary and then pulled a Lieberman and run as an independent is there anyone who doesn't think he'd be the Senator in January?"
Uh Yes..me Real Republicans in RI, and yes there are still a few of us, would never have voted for Chaffee over Laffey, (the primary challenger that Chaffee beat).
Instead we got to choose between Dumb and Dumber..Whitehouse and Chaffee.
But how many Democrats and independents would have pulled the leaver for ol' Linc if he hadn't had the Republican label around his neck?