Lincoln Chafee - Independent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Neutral Obama Stars in Rhode Island Ad

October 26, 2010

New York Times
By Bernie Becker

President Obama may be trying to stay out of Rhode Island’s campaign for governor. But that’s not stopping some of the candidates in that tight race from bringing him up.

A day after his nonendorsement of the Democratic candidate helped create headlines, Mr. Obama showed up playing a starring role in an advertisement for Lincoln Chafee, his former Senate colleague who is running for governor as an independent.

In the spot, Mr. Obama is shown praising Mr. Chafee at a 2008 event in Providence for opposing the war in Iraq. Mr. Chafee, who was a moderate Republican in the Senate, endorsed Mr. Obama’s presidential bid in February 2008, not long before Rhode Island’s primary.

“Real change isn’t voting for George Bush’s war in Iraq,” Mr. Obama says in the ad, which also includes some compliments about Mr. Chafee from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York. “I knew what it was. Lincoln Chafee knew what it was. We were voting for war.”

But while Mr. Obama may speak warmly about Mr. Chafee in the ad, it doesn’t appear as if the president will be formally backing any of Rhode Island’s candidates for governor.

On Monday, not long before the president took a trip to the state, Frank T. Caprio, the Democratic candidate in the race, said Mr. Obama “could take his endorsement and really shove it, as far as I’m concerned.”

For his part, Bill Burton, the deputy White House press secretary, told reporters on Monday that the president decided to sit out this particular contest “out of respect for his friend Lincoln Chafee.”

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Linc Chafee is a tested leader of unquestioned integrity and a strong independent voice. As Governor, he will work hard to create new jobs, rebuild our economy, solve our chronic budget problems, end corruption, and forge a new way forward for Rhode Island.