Chafee, Whitehouse meet in final TV debate

Chafee, Whitehouse meet in final TV debate

By Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press Writer October 30, 2006

CRANSTON, R.I. --With Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse focused like a laser on the failings of President Bush and his party, Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee on Monday emphasized his own character in the candidates' final TV debate before the Nov. 7 election.

"Mr. Whitehouse saying, 'Change the Senate.' It's who we're voting for there, it's more than just a party," Chafee said in the live, hourlong debate on WJAR-TV.

Polls show Whitehouse with an apparently widening lead over Chafee, although with results still within the margin of error and with a significant number of voters still undecided.

Democrats hope a win in Rhode Island will help in their goal to regain control of the Senate. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Rhode Island more than three to one, and President Bush has an approval rating of just 22 percent.

Whitehouse has tried to capitalize on those factors, and he has spent much of his time during the campaign hammering Republicans and Bush. Monday was no different.

"The person who more than anyone else supports Lincoln Chafee's candidacy is George Bush and the Republican leadership," Whitehouse said. "They know how important Lincoln Chafee's vote is."

Chafee said his vote was important because he votes his conscience and is independent, and often is a key swing vote on committees.

"Nobody tells me how to vote in Washington. That's the reputation I have, and that's the reputation I'm proud of," Chafee said.

He said Rhode Island needs a senator with the proven ability to work across party lines and asked voters to think of the election as affecting what happens years from now.

"President Bush is going to be gone," he said.

Whitehouse also criticized Chafee for failing to call for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Chafee said he did not want to get into a "political thing" on Rumsfeld.

"If it made a difference if I called for Don Rumsfeld, Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation, I would do that. I think that's not important how I feel. The president's going to support him or not, and I'd rather look to the future and propose solutions to Iraq," Chafee said.

Chafee frequently clashes with fellow Republicans and was the only Republican senator to vote against authorizing the war in Iraq. He also did not vote for Bush in the last election, writing in the name of the president's father instead.

Chafee was appointed to the office in 1999 upon the death of his father, John Chafee, and won re-election the following year.

Whitehouse criticized Chafee for running TV ads that accused him of being soft on corruption, saying they came "smack out of the Karl Rove playbook," referring to the Republican political strategist. Whitehouse, who was U.S. attorney from 1994 to 1998 and attorney general from 1998 to 2002, called the claims false.

"This is getting a little bit off the mark from what voters care about," Whitehouse said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/10/30/chafee_whitehouse_to_meet_in_final_tv_debate?mode=PF