“Lincoln Chafee, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who served as Rhode Island’s governor and as a US senator, is now a member of the Libertarian Party,” the Boston Globe reports.
Said Chafee: “I bought property in Wyoming and registered to vote out there in my fourth party — I’m a Libertarian. It’s what I’ve always been — fiscally conservative and socially liberal.”
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee “is still mulling whether to challenge his successor Gina Raimondo in the 2018 election, but he has made one decision – there would be a ‘D’ next to his name if he jumps into the race,” WPRI reports.
Said Chafee: “I’m a Democrat.”
“Chafee won election to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2000, then won the governor’s office as an independent in 2010, only to join the Democratic Party in 2013. He declined to seek re-election as governor in 2014, but surprised many the following year when he decided to seek the Democratic presidential nomination.”
In an interview published this week by Esquire, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee acknowledges he probably should not have made the “metrics system” a top plank in his quixotic run for president of the United States, the Providence Journal reports.
Said Chafee: “I guess the big mistake — I went back and forth on including the metric system angle. I was just crossing my fingers there would be some intellectual approach to the various proposals I put out in my announcement speech, which kind of covered the gamut, from ending capital punishment, to bringing Edward Snowden home.”
He added: “Unfortunately, my crossed fingers didn’t work, and it just turned into more of a joke about metric, not ‘let’s look at the bigger picture.'”
Join for as low as $6 per month. Learn more.
Already a member? Sign in here.
Lincoln Chafee said he is ending his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Politico: “With that, the Democratic field was whittled down to three — with no one else waiting in the wings: Clinton, the insurgent Bernie Sanders, and distant third Martin O’Malley. The three are set to address Iowa Democrats at the state party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Saturday night.”
“Lincoln Chafee, the struggling Democratic presidential candidate, is planning to make an update about the state of his campaign on Friday morning,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Chafee is a former governor and senator from Rhode Island and his poll numbers have been hovering around zero and he has only raised about $30,000 in his campaign. He did not help his cause at last week’s Democratic presidential debate, when he stumbled on questions about his record or and in trying to make a case for his candidacy.”
New York Times: “His campaign already on life support, a fledgling Democratic debate performance did nothing to bolster his White House hopes. Mr. Chaffee, the former senator and governor of Rhode Island, spoke for just nine minutes, and when he did get to speak, he stumbled.”
“Mr. Chafee says that he wants to carry on, but the numbers are getting increasingly daunting. Polls are showing him getting closer to zero, and he acknowledged that he has raised only about $30,000 from donors.”
Andy Borowitz: “When the curtain rises on the first Democratic debate of the 2016 campaign, all eyes will be on the bitter rivalry between the former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee and the former Virginia senator Jim Webb. While both camps are mum about the vicious hatred that has consumed the two men on the campaign trail, political insiders familiar with the Chafee-Webb blood feud are expecting fireworks in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.”
Lincoln Chafee (D) raised less than $30,000 in his first quarter as a presidential candidate, Politico reports.
“Most of the Chafee campaign’s cash came from Chafee himself. He loaned $364,000, in addition to what he received from donors, giving his campaign about $329,000 in cash on hand.”
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has scheduled an afternoon speech at the George Mason University at which a staffer with knowledge of the governor’s plans tells Bloomberg he will announce his White House bid during the event.
Chafee has indicated he will target primary frontrunner Hillary Clinton on her vote to authorize the Iraq War when they both served in the Senate: “I don’t think anybody should be president of the United States that made that mistake.”
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (D) will officially enter the Democratic presidential race on June 3, a source with knowledge of his plans told Politico.
Former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee’s “exploration of a presidential run has been met with a mix of bewilderment and derision in his home state,” the Boston Globe reports.
“The Providence Journal, in a stinging editorial, tore into his single term as governor and declared it ‘preposterous’ that ‘such a dismal record in an executive position would be a recommendation for the presidency (of the United States!).'”
“The national press, for its part, has largely ignored his near-candidacy. The endless dissections of prohibitive favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential bid make at least passing reference to other Democratic hopefuls, such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley. Chafee, the Republican-turned-independent now seeking the Democratic nomination? Not so much.”
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (D) told CNN that “I’m running” for the Democratic nomination for president.
A spokeswoman later clarified: “We are still in the exploratory committee phase. We will file the proper papers to be an official candidate, but that has not happened yet.”
“I’d say 100 percent that I want to run, but this gives you some flexibility. People can always change their mind. But as I sit here right now, 100 percent, I want to run.”
— Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (D), in an interview with the Huffington Post, on his presidential exploratory bid.
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is announcing that he is considering a campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination for president, according to Rhode Island Public Radio.
“The 62-year old former U.S. Senator and governor said in an interview that he wants to give Democratic voters a choice for president… A decision on whether to pursue a campaign, Chafee said, will hinge on the level of support he can generate over the next few weeks and months and on how well a web-based fund-raising effort goes.”
“And can you name a single scandal in four years? That’s pretty good in Rhode Island.”
— Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I), quoted by the Providence Journal, on his accomplishments as governor.
☑️ Have you have ever wondered if or how the United States might break up? Now available as an audio book: A More Perfect Union: Reimagining The United States as a European Union-style Federation.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.