Free Republic

How did our country stray so far from the founding principles of limited government, states' rights, self-reliance and moral integrity? Most Americans blame it on Congress. Americans have little faith in members of Congress, but we keep re-electing our own congressman and senators, often with little or no serious thought on the matter. In 1994, after 40 years in the political wilderness, Republicans assumed control of Congress with the promise that they would get back to those founding principles. A few tried. Fewer are still trying, but we are torpedoing their efforts. Even if we are alert enough to know...

national Republican political committee that supports Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee yesterday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against the senator's Republican primary opponent, Stephen P. Laffey, accusing the two-term Cranston mayor of using taxpayer money to advance his Senate campaign. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group of Republican senators chaired by Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, claims that a letter from Laffey sent to Cranston residents last month with their tax bills was "a promotional campaign mailing at city taxpayer expense," according to a statement from the NRSC. A campaign spokeswoman for Laffey called the complaint "ridiculous and frivolous."

Here in Rhode Island, over the last several weeks, we have been subjected to an unending slinging of negative political ads by Senator Chafee and his opponent in the Republican primary, Steve Laffey, both on TV and on the radio. These ads are disgusting, often untruthful, irritating, and most likely, effective in driving up the negatives of each man.

The conservative Club for Growth has released highlights of a poll that shows Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee in a statistical dead heat with his Republican primary challenger, Stephen P. Laffey. The Washington-based group, which has endorsed Laffey, said its survey of 300 very likely Republican primary voters showed that Chafee would get 45.7 of the vote if the election ``were held today'' and Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, would get 44.3 percent

EXETER, R.I. -- Lincoln Chafee was cleaning a horse stall on his well-manicured farm one recent early morning, describing his latest encounter with hostile home-state Republicans. The GOP senator had appeared the previous night before the Scituate Republican Town Committee to seek the endorsement of the small but influential group. In his halting, soft-spoken way, Chafee defended his opposition to the war in Iraq, domestic wiretapping and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. as the principled positions of an old-school conservative. Chafee, 53, once could count on voters in Rhode Island to tolerate his maverick ways,...

A Republican primary challenge to Senator Chafee of Rhode Island is attracting backing from national groups that favor tax cuts and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. The mayor of Cranston, R.I., Stephen Laffey, 43, is hoping to unseat Lincoln Chafee, a Republican who was appointed to the Senate in 1999 after the unexpected death of his father, John Chafee, and who won election to his father's former seat the following year.

The NRSC quickly waded into US Senator Linc Chafee's 2006 re-election race. The party organization is already running harsh TV spots in the state attacking investment banker and Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, Chafee's conservative GOP primary opponent. The commercials try to tie Laffey to the unpopular oil industry and high gas prices, blasting Laffey for having previously run "a company selling oil industry stocks on Wall Street. Profiting from offshore oil drilling. The oil companies made a fortune. Steve Laffey made a fortune."

U.S. Lincoln Chafee leads Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey by 44 to 24 percent in the race for the Republican Senatorial nomination, according to a new statewide survey conducted by researchers at Brown University. On the Democratic side, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse is ahead of Secretary of State Matt Brown by 32 to 16 percent. The survey was conducted September 10-11, 2005, at Brown University by Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy and the John Hazen White Sr. Public Opinion Laboratory. It is based on a statewide random sample of 449 registered voters in Rhode...

Laffey is expected to either challenge RINO Senator Lincoln Chafee in the GOP primary or run for Lieutenant Governor.

A group of Republicans statewide has organized a committee to encourage Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey to challenge Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee in 2006. There are 85 names on a letter given to Laffey yesterday, including 2000 gubernatorial candidate James Bennett, Cranston state Representatives Carol Mumford and James F. Davey, East Providence Mayor Joseph Larisa and members of city and town councils, party members and business people. Former Cranston Republican City Committee Chairman Gary Vierra said that he and others -- mostly members of the Cranston GOP -- were behind the effort, which was launched two weeks ago. Vierra said...

The ONLY argument in favor of keeping Chafee in his father's old senate seat is that at least he votes for Republican leadership; that his vote is needed to keep Republicans in the majority. However, Chafee is on record as saying that if his one vote could switch control back to the Democrats, he just might do it.

former Rep. Toomey (R-Pa.) said he had spoken in recent weeks with Laffey about running against centrist Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.)

RINO Chafee to face primary challenge in 2006? Chafee's critics by Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who declared he was not voting for George W. Bush's re-election and considered leaving the Republican Party, may face trouble in Rhode Island's 2006 GOP primary. Chafee's conduct upset Rhode Island Republicans, who may support Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey in a possible Senate bid. Laffey, who describes himself as a populist and is more conservative than Chafee, won re-election by a landslide in heavily Democratic Cranston after cleaning up its finances. Independent voters, comprising about half of Rhode Island's electorate,...