by John McCormick
Former Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee told reporters this morning that he is backing Sen. Barack Obama, despite the fact that Sen. John McCain campaigned for him in his failed 2006 re-election bid.
Once one of the Senate’s most liberal Republicans, Chafee lost in 2006 and now works at Brown University. Now an independent, Chafee said he plans to vote for Obama in Rhode Island’s Democratic primary on March. 4.
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He said his support for Obama, who campaigned for his opponent in 2006, was based primarily on the Illinois Democrat’s early opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Chafee said Obama has the “ideas and fortitude to be our next president.”
Asked whether McCain, the Republican nomination frontrunner, should take offense at the endorsement, Chafee said these things happen in politics. “I’m sure Sen. McCain will understand,” he said.