Speaking of Chafee, he was his idiosyncratic self during his appearance yesterday with Rappleye on 10 News Conference.

It sometimes seems like some of the gubernatorial hopefuls for 2010, including David Cicilline, Patrick Lynch, and Steve Laffey, have been preparing forever. Yet Chafee, citing a mixed message about a return to public life, is very, very relaxed about the whole thing. Asked about the next statewide election cycle, in 2010, he told Rappleye, "That's a long way away." Rappleye responded, correctly, by saying it's not that far away.

Chafee repeated his prospective areas of interest as mayor of Providence, general treasurer, and possibly governor.

"I don't understand it," he said, when asked about the Carcieri administration's axing of his popular former aide, J.R. Pagliarini. 

Asked earlier in the show about Governor Carcieri's job performance, Chafee said, "He's got a tough job. I'm not looking at that. That's 2010."

Later, Chafee said he is putting all his energy into his job at Brown's Watson Institute. As it stands, he said, "I'm not thinking tactical terms about 2010."

2/25/2008 9:06:11 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Dave Layman was a bit incredulous on A Lively Experiment last week when, pressed for an answer, I predicted that Obama will win Rhode Island's March 4 primary. Yes, the Ocean State has been Clinton country, and I could certainly be wrong. Yet a new Darrell West survey suggests that my prediction is well within reason.

If the primary was held today, 36 percent of the 474 voters who indicated they were likely to vote in the 2008 Democratic primary say they will vote for Hillary Clinton, 28 percent support Barack Obama, 27 percent say they will vote for the “Uncommitted” ballot line, and 9 percent are undecided.

Among favorability ratings for statewide officials, it's interesting to see Patrick Lynch riding relatively high, and how Providence Mayor David Cicilline's measure remains respectable, even with the expected hit following December's snow storm debacle.

When asked about the job performance of state officials, 40 percent feel [Governor] Carcieri is doing a good job as governor (down from 44 percent in September). Thirty percent believe Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts is doing a good job (down from 37 percent). Fifty percent think Attorney General Patrick Lynch is doing a good job, up from 48 percent in September.

 

Twenty-five percent feel Secretary of State Ralph Mollis is doing a good job as secretary of state (up from 23 percent). Forty percent believe Treasurer Frank Caprio, Jr. is doing a good job (up from 37 percent).

 

Fifty-one percent say Providence Mayor David Cicilline is doing a good job, down from 64 percent in the last survey. Nineteen percent believe House Speaker William Murphy is doing a good job (down from 21 percent) and 15 percent feel Senate President Joseph Montalbano is doing a good job, down from 16 percent.

The thing that should most concern elected officials, of course, is how only 16 percent of respondents think the state is headed in the right direction, while 74 percent think we're going the wrong way.

 

2/11/2008 11:53:55 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [3] |  

While Rhode Island's statewide election in 2010 remains more than 30 months away, we can expect to see a heightened level of organizing among potential candidates in 2008. And Providence City Solicitor Joseph M. Fernandez has taken an early plunge by filing papers this month, indicating that he intends to be a Democratic candidate for attorney general, with the Rhode Island Board of Elections.

This could shape up as interesting race since one of the other prospective candidates, lawyer and state Senator Paul V. Jabour, is a close ally of former City Council president John J. Lombardi -- one of David Cicilline's most vocal critics on the Providence council. Robert Craven of Saunderstown is also considered a possible Democratic candidate for AG, and it's conceivable that others may emerge.

While Cicilline is backing Hillary Clinton, Fernandez and his wife, Emily Maranjian, a white-collar prosecutor in AG Patrick Lynch's office, were Harvard Law School classmates with Barack Obama, and they have been among the leaders of Obama's Rhode Island campaign. Fernandez and Maranjian attended Brown University as undergrads.

Fernandez does not currently have much statewide name-recognition, but he has been active in the Cicilline administration, serving on the task force that formed the mayor's ethics recommendations, for example, and in the community, serving on the board of Trinity Rep and as a director of Crossroads Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, Lynch, as we know, is term-limited as AG, and he shows every sign of being part of a busy Democratic field for governor.

12/26/2007 2:47:37 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |