Lincoln Chaffee’s win in Tuesday’s Rhode Island Republican primary bodes well for my race against Republican incumbent Sen. Olympia Snowe in Maine.
Unlike Snowe, who voted in favor of the war, Lincoln Chaffee voted against the Iraq War resolution in 2002, Chaffee won his primary against a conservative pro-Bush Republican. I intend to win my race against one of the most hawkish pro-Bush Republicans now in Congress.
I see parallels in Tuesday’s Rhode Island vote to the Connecticut Democratic primary last month, when pro-war incumbent Joe Lieberman lost to anti-war newcomer Ned Lamont.
New England voters on both sides of the aisle — both Democrats and Republicans — are sending the clear message to their parties that it is time for this war to stop. It is a message that needs to be repeated at the polls on November 7.
A Strategic Marketing survey done in mid-July showed three out of four Mainers said the Iraq war was not worth the casualties and costs.
Snowe’s new TV ad — which was produced by the same media consultants who orchestrated the controversial Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against John Kerry two years ago — does not even mention the Iraq War. Nor does Snowe’s ad mention that she is a Republican.
Snowe is running away from her party, but only in her ad. In reality, Congressional Quarterly has her supporting the Bush agenda 82 percent of the time.
It is a feel-good ad that does not bear up under scrutiny. The ad claims that she supports women, yet she voted to confirm Judge Samuel Alito, the man who drew up an action plan to dismantle Roe v. Wade. She claims to be supporting drug benefits for seniors, yet she voted for Medicare Part D, knowing all the while that the bill did not allow negotiation of drug prices, knowing that the “donut hole” would be devastating to low-income seniors.
Snowe is hiding from her voting record, from support for George Bush and from this disastrous war in Iraq. She must be called to account.
Jean Hay Bright, Democrat for U.S. Senate
www.jeanhaybright.us