| − | '''Lincoln Davenport Chafee''' (born March 26, 1953) was a [[liberal]] [[RINO]] Senator from the state of [[Rhode Island]] (1999-2007). Chafee was appointed to the United States Senate in 1999 upon the death of his father, Senator John Chafee, and was elected to a full six-year term in 2000. Although he was a member of the [[Republican Party]], Chafee recently switched his political affiliation to Independent. After winning a fierce Republican primary battle against conservative Mayor, [[Steven Laffey]], Chafee lost his re-election bid in 2006 to [[Democrat]], [[Sheldon Whitehouse]], by a narrow margin. Chafee began serving as a visiting fellow at [[Brown University]]’s Watson Institute for International Studies in January 2007.<ref>http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-068.html</ref> Chafee is an Independent candidate for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2010 election. | + | '''Lincoln Davenport Chafee''' (born March 26, 1953) was a [[liberal]] [[RINO]] Senator from the state of [[Rhode Island]] (1999-2007). Chafee was appointed to the United States Senate in 1999 upon the death of his father, Senator John Chafee, and was elected to a full six-year term in 2000. Although he was a member of the [[Republican Party]], Chafee recently switched his political affiliation to Independent. After winning a fierce Republican primary battle against conservative Mayor, [[Steven Laffey]], Chafee lost his re-election bid in 2006 to [[Democrat]], [[Sheldon Whitehouse]] by nine percentage points. Chafee began serving as a visiting fellow at [[Brown University]]’s Watson Institute for International Studies in January 2007.<ref>http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-068.html</ref> He is currently an Independent candidate for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2010 election. |