M. Charles Bakst: Briefing for Clinton: suspense-filled RI Senate contest

[woldnewton]

Memo for former President Bill Clinton, who headlines a Kingston fundraiser tomorrow for Democratic Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse.

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Republicans here often have won major office because they looked like refreshing, grown-up faces after Democrats wounded themselves in bitter September primaries. Examples: the late John Chafee's 1976 Senate win, Ed DiPrete's 1984 gubernatorial victory, and Linc Chafee's 2000 Senate election.

Now it's the GOP having an ugly primary. Moderate Chafee and Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, more conservative, clobber each other with TV attack ads.

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As Chafee's and Laffey's negatives mount, the beneficiary could be Whitehouse, who was your U.S. attorney and then the state attorney general. He has only a token primary; he runs ads on real issues, like college costs and getting the troops out of Iraq. Their negativity focuses on Republicans in Washington.

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