Stephen Laffey, the
Republican mayor of
Cranston, R.I.,
announced Thursday
that he will
challenge moderate
Sen.
Lincoln Chafee
in a primary
election that will
test GOP voters'
tolerance of the
incumbent's frequent
breaks from party
leaders and the Bush
administration.
Laffey, a former
investment banker
who was elected
mayor in 2002 and
re-elected last
year, said that he
was running for the
Senate "because the
smallest state in
the union needs the
strongest voice in
the Senate."
Laffey's remarks
ignored Chafee but
condemned
Republicans and
Democrats in
Washington for
promoting "wasteful
spending" and
"corporate welfare"
that Laffey said
have contributed to
the largest national
debt ever. Laffey is
widely regarded as
more conservative
than Chafee, though
Laffey spokeswoman
Robin Schutt
described him as
"reformist" rather
than as conservative
or liberal.
Laffey's widely
anticipated
announcement came
almost one year
before the Sept. 12,
2006, primary. He
has long been laying
the groundwork for a
Senate campaign,
rebuffing requests
from GOP officials
that he run for
lieutenant governor
instead - and forgo
a potentially
divisive intraparty
battle that will
occur eight weeks
before the general
election.
Chafee's aides have
long said they
expected a primary
challenge. Chafee,
who is also a former
mayor, said he
encouraged Laffey to
run for city office
three years ago, but
their friendship
appears to have come
to an end.
"Now
I will take great
pleasure in ending
his political
career," Chafee
said.
The
Republican Main
Street Partnership,
a moderate GOP group
that supports Chafee,
attacked Laffey's
record as mayor and
said a contested
primary election
would siphon
campaign funds "that
could be and should
be spent fighting
off Democrats
anxious to win back
control of the U.S.
Senate."
Chafee, who was
appointed to the
Senate in 1999 to
succeed his late
father, GOP Sen.
John H. Chafee
(1976-99), has
backed Republicans
just over half of
the time this year
on partisan votes.
Despite that
contrarian record,
the White House and
the National
Republican
Senatorial Committee
are backing Chafee's
re-election,
calculating that his
independence make
him well-positioned
in
Democratic-leaning
Rhode Island to
defeat either of the
two Democratic
candidates, Rhode
Island Secretary of
State Matt Brown and
former state
Attorney General
Sheldon Whitehouse.
Chafee faces the
most serious primary
challenge of any
senator seeking
re-election. But
other Republican
senators have come
under fire from
conservative
activists who say
they are
insufficiently loyal
to party precepts.
Sen.
Orrin G. Hatch,
R-Utah, is opposed
by state House
Majority Whip Steve
Urquhart, who argues
that Hatch has lost
touch with his
state's primarily
conservative
electorate during
his 30-year Senate
career. At a time
when President Bush
has two vacancies to
fill on the Supreme
Court, Urquhart is
attacking Hatch for
promoting President
Bill Clinton's
appointments to the
court of liberal
jurists Ruth Bader
Ginsburg and Stephen
G. Breyer.
Conservatives in
Ohio are livid at
Republican Sen.
Mike DeWine for backing some gun control
measures and his
participation in a
group of 14 senators
that crafted a
compromise on
judicial
filibusters. John G.
Hritz, a former
steel company
product executive
and a political
neophyte, is
challenging DeWine
in the GOP primary.
Daphne Retter
contributed to this
story.
