Will Rhode Island Make Gay Marriage Supporter Lincoln Chaffee Its Next Governor?
With Rhode Island’s laughably anti-gay Gov. Don Carcieri forced out of office by 2010 because of term limits, a friend of the Gs is entering the fray for the governor’s mansion: Republican turncoat Lincoln Chaffee, who loves himself some homos.
Well, homo marriage that is. A vocal supporter, he stood alone among the GOP with his unwavering support for same-sex marriage. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to earn any friends in Rhode Island — for that, he’s actually banking on his Independent status, which he adopted after leaving the Republican party in disgust for its right-wing conservatism that abandoned voters, and politicos, who are “pro-choice, pro-environment, antiwar, and fiscally responsible.” Chaffee ran for governor in 2006, losing to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.
And while Chaffee has been clear about his gay marriage support, it’s unclear how much of a campaign issue he’ll make it. After all, Rhode Island was devastated by the recession, and Chaffee is already talking about fiscal discretion — not civil rights — as a means to get Rhode Island’s residents back on track.
Chafee ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, losing to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. He has never run for governor.
Thank you, Matt, for correcting that error. Does anyone at queerty EVER check their copy? Spelling and grammatical typos and content errors abound on this site.
Chaffee is worth watching—I bet there are a couple moderate Repubs who are keeping their eye on his career choice to go independent. The state of RI is a mess financially, although I don’t know much about state politics there.
Qwerty: What’s the last S for in the above headline? Is the copy editor on vacation or recovering from eye surgery? We still love ya.
I interviewed the man a few years ago. He’s quite bright and would make a capable Governor.
There is no question mark in the word “governor”. Nor, unless there are two chief executives at a time in RI and Chafee plans to be both of them, should the word be pluralized.
Plus, just the one F in the last name.
And the fact-checking issue about his never having run for the office before.
Hire a goddamn editor.
Oops—I did know there was ONE F in Chafee but without cofee I got conffused.
At any rate, I have figured out from my short time reading and posting here that Queerty chooses not to correct errors once the articles hit the site. [sigh]
May God bless Rhode Island. With Chaffee at the helm the ship is headed for the rocks. The first thing he did was allow all illegal immigrants a clear path to welfare and free health care in RI. I am seriously contemplating moving to another state.