Sen. Chafee considers leaving GOP
PROVIDENCE (AP) -- Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee said he would consider switching parties if President Bush is re-elected.
"I'm not ruling it out," Chafee told The Providence Journal.
Chafee, known for moderate views that often run counter to the Bush administration, also said he cast a write-in vote for Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, in Tuesday's election. He said it was a "symbolic protest."
The Republican senator said it would have been impossible to vote for President Bush given their opposite views on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, the deficit, tax cuts, the environment and the war in Iraq.
Chafee has opposed the administration's push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has criticized Bush's handling of the postwar reconstruction of Iraq. He was the only Republican senator to vote against the October 2002 resolution that gave Bush the authority to invade Iraq.
Chafee told the newspaper that he didn't plan to change parties "at this minute."
"I'll have to look and see what happens tonight (Tuesday), the makeup of everything," he said.
After winning races Tuesday in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana, Republicans were assured of 53 Senate seats.
Undecided races in Florida and Alaska would determine the final sweep of victory for Republicans, who currently have a 51-48 margin, with one Democratic-leaning independent.
Chafee, who was appointed to the Senate in November 1999 to fill the seat when his father, John, died, said if he were to change parties, "it would be with great sadness."
He said he much preferred the elder Bush to his son because the 41st president took steps to make sure the deficit didn't grow and was more of an environmentalist.
Chafee said ever since President Bush has been in office "it's been an agenda of energizing the far-right-wing base, which is divisive."
A message left for Chafee at his Rhode Island office Wednesday wasn't immediately returned.
