News on Senate Race

[safi0]

I just saw some poll numbers of the RI Senate seat of both potential opponents for Chaffee. Got some good news and bad news. Good news is that in the poll against Matt Brown, Chaffee only gets 44% of the vote, bad news Brown gets 27. With Whitehouse, Chaffee only polls in at 41%, but Whitehouse only gets 31%.

What to draw from this: first of all, polling better along with Kennedy and Langevin throwing their support behind him Whitehouse is the huge favorite to get your nomination. Chaffee polls at under 45% against both candidates, very bad for an incumbent. But it looks like this race will be a dogfight, unlike with Langevin which looked like an easy pickup

[tedoll78]

1. If we ever want to knock Chaffee off..

we have to paint him as a tool of the Alabama/Mississippi wing of the Republican Party.

Commercials with:
trailer parks (no offense - I have relatives in LA/MS/AL that live in 'em)..
the rebel flag..
a reeeally rednecky banjo in the background..
pictures of him with prominent Southern senators (Lott, Thurmond, etc) who don't play well in the NorthEast..
a ranking list of education standards, complete with states colored in red & blue (hmm.. where are all of the red states? at the bottom!)..
stupid quotes from the pResident, of course, since he lost the state handily..

We also need to point-out every single non-moderate vote that he has cast in the past 6 years:
Point-out that if he returns, a Scalia-type judge stands better chances of getting onto the Supreme Court.
Point-out that his vote might be THE ONE giving the Senate to the GOP - and that legislation that most Rhode Islanders don't support will get passed.
Meanwhile, legislation that Rhode Islanders support won't even get brought-up for debate on the floor because of his vote for majority leader.

Summing it up: he's not just another Senator: he's an enabler of the extreme!

Maybe even have some religious extremist imposters working on key street corners "on his behalf," handing-out over-the-top right-wing literature. "Vote with Gawd.. vote Republican!" "God hates fags!" "

It sounds underhanded, but we can't afford to play nice anymore. They tie us to our most extreme ends when it fits the situation (San Francisco, New York, etc), so we should learn to do the same.

[safi0]

2. I think you went

A little overboard there, but you got the main idea right. I call it the Northeast strategy. I don't think we need to bing trailerparks and stuff like that into it, but you associate Chafee with people like Lott, Tom Delay, Dick Cheney and other unsavory charachters in the GOP. In his defense, Whitehouse did bring up the name of Tom Delay in the speech he announced his canidacy

[cap]

3. yup... tie him to a culture that is alien to the NorthEast

eom

[Joey Liberal]

4. I Don't understand R.I.'s preference for Chaffee

Being that I grew up in Little Rhody, I just don't see how they put up with Chaffee. They should vote the bastard out of office. I could really go for some steamers right about now:)..........

[safi0]

5. I've talked

To one RI DU'er who said that they prefer Chaffee to Whitehouse, but will work for Whitehouse because Chaffee while they like him personally enables the Bush agenda more than Whitehouse would.

[m_welby]

6. my feelings exatly

and I liked that he stood up against the IWR. He generally stands on his principles, I respect him for that. I don't always agree with him, but I don't find his positions offensive, in another time I wouldn't have a problem with him. Unfortunately there's no room for any republicans in the senate right now. Every seat they lose is one seat closer to a dem majority. I'd rather get rid of frist or any other extremist in the senate, but at this point any republican will do (and I don't really have much respect for whitehouse or brown, but these are difficult times).

[bryanri]

7. Take back the Senate

Rhode Island & Sheldon Whitehouse needs your help to beat Senator Lincoln Chafee (R). We all know what is at stake in this upcoming election. Sheldon has a long and proven record of service to Rhode Island and he has the experience to be an effective and trusted U.S. Senator. Through his work as a US Attorney and Attorney General, Sheldon has a record of standing up for us, approaching problems head on and coming up with smart solutions. America will not be forced to wonder how Sheldon will vote on issues important to all of us such as efforts to oppose the privatization of Social Security, health care reform, fully funding public education and a woman's right to choose. His record proves that he will always side with the people of Rhode Island, providing us with a constant, reliable voice in Washington.

have set up an Actblue fundraising page and I am trying to raise $1000 for Sheldon. I hate to ask but we need all your help to win back the Senate. New Brown University poll - Lincoln Chafee (R) 41% - 36% Sheldon Whitehouse (D). Chafee is only 5 points ahead. I know we can win this with your help!

Actblue page.. http://actblue.com/list/whitehouseforsenate

For more info on Sheldon Whitehouse go to..http://www.whitehouseforsenate.com/

Only $939.99 away from my goal!