Heck, Justin, I'll give it a shot. Since Nicks has already said that Chafee is the sort of Republican that Rhode Island likes , ie; he's a RINO, then the party-building apparatus, or tactic, they will use will reflect this dynamic. Many RINO's, Democrats and others, will be voting for Chafee in the Republican primary. Of course, as you suggest, it could very well backfire if they think Laffey will be easier to defeat. It's a dangerous gambit, to be sure.

{Rod Serling voice on} Submitted for your consideration {Rod Serling voice off}.

In the penultimate paragraph of his WP item, Cillizza states that the Toomey Team registered Democrats and independents in Pennsylvania. In the final paragraph, he mentions only Democrats as the objects of Chafee's pursuit.

Bad editing? Or something more?

Of course Chafee is trying to get both Democrats and independents to vote in the GOP primary. Laffey is also attempting to attract Democrats and independents by attacking oil companies, drug costs and the Republican Party. They're not rough drafts of ads, they're already on the air!

One clarification I might make is this: Chafee wants Democrats to "cross-over" for the purpose of throwing the Republican primary his way, much like what Gary Reilly quite unsuccessfully attempted to do in the 2004 Cranston GOP primary.
Laffey wants people that are Democrats and Independents, whose individual views actually best agree with the principles of the Republican Party, and not of the Democrat Party to become Republicans, not just for the election, but permanently! Some of the greatest Republicans have been former Democrats!
As for the RNC guy saying, "Chafee is the sort of Republican that Rhode Island likes," this is the kind of elitist "we know better than you do" attitude that irks people like Laffey (and me!), and only tends to embolden him to work even harder for every vote.
I have a revolutionary idea ... how about we let Republican voters determine the Republican nominee?!