Monday, September 24, 2007

Chafee "unlikely" to run for governor

Back in March, when I reported on how Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian represents a rare bright spot for the perenially struggling Rhode Island Republican Party, my story included this information from Lincoln Chafee:

Asked about 2010, Chafee says he thinks Avedisian will “probably run for governor.” The former senator adds, “I do think he’d like to work in Washington, but a Republican pretty much needs an open seat [to win a congressional office].” Chafee says he is “not, at this stage,” planning a gubernatorial run, and he demurs when asked about a mayoral campaign. Referring to Avedisian, Chafee says, “At this stage, I’d encourage him to think about [running for] governor.”

Speaking to Charlie Bakst for a column in yesterday's Sunday ProJo, Chafee went a bit further:

I thought Chafee might try in 2010 for the governorship his late father, John, held in the 1960s and thus keep the seat Republican. But now comes word that the liberal Chafee, isolated within the national party, has become an independent.

He tells me he’s “unlikely” to run for governor and that if he does try for that post, or for mayor of Providence, where he now lives, he won’t return to GOP ranks to do it.

Avedisian, meanwhile, remains one of the wild cards for 2010. Does he run for governor, offering a moderate challenger to Steve Laffey, stay in Warwick, or make a bid for another office? Here's what his official line was back in March:

Avedisian is keeping his options open. It’s not inconceivable, he says, that he will continue to seek the mayor’s office in Warwick, although the possibility of being governor “does appeal to me. It would interest me. It would be something that I would have to consider.”

How he would fare against a well-funded conservative challenger, like Laffey, in a GOP gubernatorial primary remains open to question. Yet Avedisian has succeeded in building a strong foundation for his next move, even if he needs to develop his war chest. As one close observer of Rhode Island politics says, “The good thing about Scott, everyone likes him — Democrats, Republicans, independents. Everyone seems to have nice things to say about him.”

The downside of this bonhomie, as Avedisian freely concedes, is how he is very chummy with many of his would-be Democratic rivals. Last year, for example, he decided not to run for lieutenant governor, even though he could have formed a potent ticket with Carcieri. Avedisian denies that his friendship with Elizabeth Roberts, the Democrat who won the lieutenant governor’s seat, was the deciding factor, but he says, “Elizabeth and I would never run against one another.”

2010 governor's race | Republicans