Marc Comtois
So asks NROs Ramesh Ponnuru: I haven’t thought this race held as much potential for conservatives as the Specter vs. Toomey race did in 2004. I thought Toomey had a greater chance of winning a general election than I think Laffey does now. But as Chafee’s Alito vote shows, the downside of backing the conservative…
On WPRO, Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey just said that he was “disappointed but not surprised” at Sen. Chafee’s decision. He said that Sen. Chafee had made himself irrelevant to the process again and that RI won’t be well-served by either Chafee’s decision on this particular issue nor on Sen. Chafee’s consistent inablilty to make a…
As reported by WPRO’s Lori Johnson, Sen. Lincoln Chafee will vote against Judge Alito. He cited concerns about Judge Alito’s stance on wiretapping and executive power and secondarily about Judge Alito’s stance on abortion. More to come… UPDATE: My quick take is that, while Sen. Chafee seems to have indeed voted his conscience, there can…
From Chris Cillizza’s Washington Post Politics Blog (via John J. Miller at NRO): [Sen. Lincoln] Chafee remains the most high-profile undecided senator on Alito, and regardless of which side he eventually chooses, he can expect to be bashed for it. Chafee faces a primary challenge from Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey (R). Should he get through…
According to Hotline, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, chairwoman of the National Republican Senate Committee, offered this bit about the RI ’06 Senate race today: In RI, where the NRSC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars slamming incumbent Linc Chafee’s primary opponent, Dole dismissed the idea that Chafee’s challenger could win. Dole: “I will not even…
Ed Achorn expounds on how Rep. Williamson’s proposed Casino Amendment will undermine Separation of Powers: Representative Williamson seeks to amend the Rhode Island Constitution by writing in a specific tax rate for Harrah’s — the first time that a special deal crafted for a corporation would be part of the state’s constitution. In other states…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce–which represents 3 million businesses nationwide–has endorsed Senator Chafee for his ’06 Senate run according to an article in today’s ProJo. This despite having differences with the Senator over various environmental , tax and labor policies. According to the story, the endorsement means the USCC will provide both money and “people…
As West Warwick Rep. Tim Williamson continues to flog the twice-shot casino horse here in Rhode Island, an editorial by Thomas Grey–national field director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling–in today’s ProJo points out that the recent Abramoff scandal occurred because of influence peddling done by Indian casinos. Thus, the unsurprising conclusion is that–in…
First things first: I’m not a big proponent of state-sponsored gambling. I understand it can be fun for the participant, but I think that the revenue generated by gambling proceeds give a false sense of security to our politicians. Have a potential revenue shortfall? Let’s not cut spending, let’s increase gambling! We can argue over…
Dan Yorke interviewed Senator Chafee for the first time in 4-5 years on his radio show yesterday afternoon. Yorke has not been easy on Sen. Chafee over the last few years–it was he who dubbed him “the Senator from Virginia”–and I thought it worth the time to listen and pass along a summary of the…