This small state is a study in political contrasts.  It is reliably Democratic in presidential contests, yet its senior senator is a Republican, and it has elected both Democratic and Republican governors in recent decades.  It appears to have effective and organized partisan contests, yet there is no such thing as registration by party in this state and it has given totals to third-party/independent presidential candidates in excess of the national average.

    The senior senator from Rhode Island is a well-known GOP moderate who has served in this capacity for several years.  He is a former Rhode Island governor and former Secretary of the Navy John Chafee.  In legislative terms, he is probably best known these days as the author of the Chafee-Breaux balanced budget plan of 96, which helped focus sentiment in the Senate in favor of grasping the nettle on such matters as federal spending limits and consumer price index revisions.  But he has also finally joined the ranks of those Republicans who want to see significant campaign finance reform.  After showing skepticism and hanging back for some years, he finally joined fellow GOP moderates Snowe and Jeffords this year in co-sponsoring for the first time the McCain-Feingold bill.  (Curiously, Senator Specter, who joined the McCain-Feingold team late last year after Specter successfully persuaded Senator McCain to drop the free TV provisions originally present in the bill's first version, has now withdrawn his support.)

    On our two biggest issues therefore, fiscal integrity and political reform, Senator Chafee has taken positions in line with ARP thinking.  As a leader of reform-minded centrists in the Senate, I believe there is no doubt that Senator Chafee deserved our support when he runs for re-election in 2000.

    Deserved rather than deserves, because the Senator has now announced that he will not be seeking re-election next year.  This was unfortunate for our agenda.  My hunch is that with the extreme left and extreme right now dominating congressional councils, John Chafee has felt increasingly isolated and powerless these days.  GOP State Treasurer Nancy Mayer, a strong proponent of campaign finance reform, should be our candidate, I believe.

    Just for the sake of completeness, I should mention that there is also talk of an independent candidacy by Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr.  However, while he has not been named as a suspect, a criminal investigation is ongoing at this time where there is a chance he could be implicated, so he may soon be very damaged goods.

    The junior Senator from Rhode Island, Democrat Jack Reed, is a typical Democratic liberal.  He voted against means-testing or raising the eligibility age for Medicare.  He 1997 he received a 36% rating from the Concord Coalition on his fiscal voting.  His opponent, on the other hand, State Treasurer Nancy Mayer, is a progressive Republican of the best sort.  In the campaign against Reed she refused to accept soft money and called for campaign finance reform.  But she did very poorly against him, receiving only 35% of the vote.  I suppose that she would be our best bet in 2002, though her image as a loser may be too strong to do us much good.  On the other hand, if we cannot get her to run, then our only remaining option, as I see it, is to run our own candidate in a flag-planting campaign.  Our goal should be to receive over 13% of the vote; if Reed's support holds steady through '02 that is the total we need to take from him in order to hold him below a majority.
 

FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

    In this district in '00, we face a tall order, but I'm afraid we really don't have a choice:  We must challenge Patrick Kennedy(D), who received a whopping 67% of the vote back in '98.  If we can galvanize the considerable pro-third party and independent sentiment here and throughout this state then we might have a fighting chance. In last year's election in this District, for example, someone from the Reform Party ran in the district against Kennedy.  His name is James Sheehan, and he received a passable 5% of the vote.  We might want to find a contact in Rhode Island who can give us relevant info on this candidate.  Also, in terms of galvanizing centrist third-party/independent reform sentiment, the issue of political and campaign finance reform saw a strong advocate here a few years ago.  GOP State Treasurer Nancy Mayer ran a spunky primary campaign recently against her party's long-time incumbent Senator here, John Chafee, largely on the political reform issue.  It was rumored in 98 that forces were urging her to challenge Patrick.  Her name does not show up in the final returns for this district, however.  The bottom line, though, is that if Mayer is still interested in the Hosue or the Senate we should get involved and encourage her, I feel, and should become a part of any such effort on her part, in my opinion.
 

SECOND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

    In '00 we must challenge Bob Weygand(D), who received a scary 72% of the vote in '98.  Remember, however, that in both of these districts there is strong sentiment in favor of third parties and independent candidates, so I do not believe we face the same long odds which confront most Republicans here.

    And on March 19, 1999, word comes that Weygand may be leaving his House seat to run for Senate in the wake of Senator Chafee's decision to retire.  In addition, the possibility that a moderate Republican in the Chafee mold, House GOP Leader Bob Watson, may also be interested in this race means we have the option of endorsing a Republicrat here.

    In addition, in 98 a Reform Party candidate, Timothy Miller, ran a respectable third here, receiving 3% of the vote, and it was reported in May 7th's House Race Hotline that he has declared his intention to go for the seat again.  If Miller is not a useless Perotbot and Watson does not work out for some reason, I recommend we touch base with Miller and help him.  3% is a good start one's first time out, and I recomend we set ourselves the goal of winning over 22% of the vote, which would deprive Weygand of a psychologically convincing victory.  The bottom line is that this seat suddenly became doubly attractive to all comers, including ARP.