Clawing for Votes, Chafee Steers Race Toward Gutter
2006-11-02
Source: Washington Post
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rss feedSen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) always sounds so polite and sincere, even when he's wrapping his hands around his opponent's throat.
"Eight years as a top law enforcement official in Rhode Island and not a single successful conviction of a public official," Chafee said during a debate Monday night with his Democratic challenger, Sheldon Whitehouse. "He's always looking after the power brokers and his own political career."
The attack left the former state attorney general seething. Chafee is "just making this stuff up entirely out of whole cloth," Whitehouse shot back. A similar onslaught knocked Stephen Laffey off course in the final weeks before the GOP primary, forcing the Cranston mayor to deny that he had taunted firefighters and doctored his résumé. Robert A. Weygand got a dose of nice-guy negativism in 2000, when Chafee accused the Democratic former congressman of "embroidering the truth" about the age of his dog.
What happened to the affable fellow who drives a hybrid and studied classics at Brown University? Well, his political career is on the line, and the gutter seems the best hope for salvation. Chafee has slogged through two tough campaigns this year, against a conservative primary opponent and now in the general election against Whitehouse. He survived the first round. Next week, polls suggest, he may not be so lucky.
Whitehouse led Chafee in every poll published in October. Many political observers say that despite the vaunted Chafee name, the national climate has become too hostile for a Republican to survive in one of the most Democratic states. President Bush's approval rating here is 22 percent.
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