Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) “paused a little too long for the GOP leadership’s liking” when asked by a CNN’s Jonathan Karl “whether he might switch parties if the chamber is deadlocked at 50-50 again after the election,” Roll Call’s Ed Henry reports. When pressed, Chafee paused and said, “That’s a decision that I’d really find difficult to make, very, very difficult. I’ve been a Republican a long time.”… [Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire]
Like Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont who did switch, Chafee is a “New England Republican”, conservative on fiscal matters, more liberal on social issues, not inclined to mix religion with politics, and definitely uneasy about Christian fundamentalism.