Chafee Leaves the GOP

News Item:

Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee says he has left the Republican Party because the national GOP has drifted too far from him on critical issues, including the war in Iraq, the economy and the environment.
"It's not my party any more," Chafee, who represented Rhode Island from 1999 until 2007 told The Providence Journal.

Had he left the party last year and agreed to caucus with the Democrats, he might be in the Senate. Then again, perhaps caucusing with the Democrats was a step he simply could not take. Disenchanted as far back as 2004, Chafee didn't vote for John Kerry in the presidential election. Instead he wrote in the name of the first George Bush.