M. Charles Bakst: For Chafee, tough fight still ahead
2006-09-14
Source: Providence Journal
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rss feedSen. Lincoln Chafee yesterday was still so full of nervous energy from his Republican primary triumph over Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey that he could barely bring himself to eat when he stopped for lunch in Angelo's on Federal Hill.
I joined him for a moment. It was about 1 p.m. He ordered a ginger ale, soup and broccoli, and I told him I'd run into his mother, Virginia, at Tuesday night's Biltmore Hotel celebration. I never saw her more excited. He said, "I had my doubts on this one, I really did, and I think she sensed that."
I'd seen Chafee struggle through some tough moments early Tuesday morning when turnout at Warwick's Potowomut School, his old stomping grounds, was light and a man chewed him out for running such a negative campaign. But now the senator told me that things got worse later: Another man came by and recalled promising that if Chafee voted against Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court, he'd vote against Chafee. "Now I'm keeping my promise," the man said.
Chafee yesterday had a right to savor his victory. "It's a huge win," he exulted. But he got only 54 percent of the vote of a small electorate. Indeed, many independents who backed him Tuesday will turn in November to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. So this won't be easy.
Talking with reporters yesterday, former Attorney General Whitehouse stepped up his attack on President Bush and renewed his call for electing a Democratic Senate:
"This is a matter of: Are you comfortable with your public schools, as they've been left unfunded by the Bush administration? . . . Are you comfortable with a health care system that leaves 46 million people uninsured and is unbelievably inefficient? Do you think we should have a plan for getting our troops home from Iraq? How long are we going to stay with an energy policy that is beholden to oil and gas interests?"
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