Lucky #7

Rhode Island isn't famous for very much, but the Ocean State certainly has developed a notoriety for attaching a bizarre premium on low numbered license plates.

How much would you pay for the number 7? $500? $1,000? Well, a man in Lincoln has forked over $25,000 for the rights to lucky #7. Aside from the money, all he had to do next was wait 20 years, and wait for former Governor Bruce Sundlun's wife to get tired of it. Politics, intrigue and high stakes - the Providence Journal (registration required) has the only-in-Rhode-Island story right here.

Chafee to voters: "don't box me in"

Fresh from his defeat of Steve Laffey, our incumbent Senator Lincoln Chafee is now starting to grasp that he's actually going to have to fight tooth and nail to defeat Democratic rival Sheldon Whitehouse and retain his Senate seat. While Chafee's status as Washington's top RINO hurt him with Republican primary voters, he's banking on using it as an asset against Whitehouse.

This is a predictable, if still shrewd, move, by Chafee to finally account for his tendency to talk and vote like a Senate Democrat when courting Democrat leaning voters at home, with the logic being 'I'm essentially a Democrat, and an incumbent to boot.'

Chafee's first campaign ads have been launched, and he's attempting to go straight down the middle of the road:

I was attacked by the right for being too liberal; now I'm being attacked by the left for being too conservative. That puts me in the middle, where I've always been, with you.

The Providence Journal (registration required) details how Chafee's neither-fish-nor-foul is attempting to throw a wrench into the attempts by Whitehouse's campaign to portray him as some sort of fire breathing right wing monster. This, of course, is gibberish. Sheldon Whitehouse wouldn't know a right winger if one came into his house and shat in his merlot. As a bonafide right winger, I can tell you that other right wingers here in Rhode Island and across America regard Lincoln Chafee as something of a leper. Granted, he's a leper that can help prevent Harry Reid from becoming Senate majority leader, but a leper all the same.

Nolo contendere

Brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, owners of The Station nightclub have pled no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter for their role in the 2003 fire that killed 100 of their patrons. The Providence Journal has the full story here.

Laffey run down by RINO

It's all over. Steve Laffey (pictured above at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick) has conceded defeat to incumbent Lincoln Chafee in yesterday's Republican primary elections, with Chafee winning 54.2% to 45.7%

The rest of the election results revealed few surprises. Governor Donald Carcieri (who ran unopposed in the Republican primary) will be running for re-election against his enormously large foreheaded Lieutenant Governor Charlie Fogarty (who also ran unopposed in the Democratic primary).

In the race for the House, Patches Kennedy ran unopposed on the Democratic ticket in District 1, and District 2 Democratic incumbent Jim Langevin crushed plucky Jennifer Lawless.

Best of all Carl Sheeler finished with less than 8% of the vote in the Democratic Senate race, behind Sheldon Whitehouse (who won a monstrous 81.6% of the vote) and Christopher F. Young (10.4%). That the DailyKos styled progressive candidate, Sheeler, finished behind Young, a candidate who made no effort to advertise - or even create a webpage for his campaign - adds a delicious touch of schadenfreude, especially after his bizarre comments on this blog.

So what's next? I hold my nose and vote for Chafee when I have to choose between him and Sheldon Whitehouse, but hold my head up high voting to re-elect Governor Carcieri and Providence Mayor David Cicilline.

So how did I do scorecard wise? Just terrible, thanks. Steve Laffey, Kernan King and Dave Talan all lost. Carcieri won the Republican nomination, but only because he ran unopposed.

UPDATE: The national press has gone home after Laffey conceded, and can safely go back to ignoring Rhode Island until Chafee's make-or-break stand on election day (or until we have another lethal nightclub fire, whichever comes first).

UPDATE II: Though it has nothing to do with Rhode Island, the Dictators of the World blog has been updated.

Hot, fresh exit polling - right here

Though nobody's asking, I'm just narcissistic enough to tell the entire world how I voted in today's Republican primaries:

Senate: Steve Laffey
Governor: Donald "Don" Carcieri
Lt. Governor: Kernan King
Mayor: Dave Talan

Bear in mind that it's only the primaries. In the (unfortunately likely) event that Lincoln Chafee beats Steve Laffey, I'll swallow my bile and vote for Chafee before voting for the abhorrent Sheldon Whitehouse. Similarly, Dave Talan's odds of becoming mayor of Providence are roughly equivalent to my chances of becoming Miss Venezuela. In fact, David Cicilline will likely be the second Democrat I've ever voted for. Who was the first, you ask ... ?

Primary elections held today

Today is the big day, when primary voters in Rhode Island will go to the polls to nominate candidates to appear on the ballot come election day. On the federal level are nominations in the races for the US Senate seat currently held by RINO Lincoln Chafee, the first district Congressional seat currently occupied by Patrick "Patches" Kennedy, and the second district Congressional seat currently held by Democrat James Langevin, and on the state level, the offices of Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor, as well as a host of local races.

So who am I, a registered Republican, voting for in the state's biggest race? This is, apparently, the million dollar question, and judging by the contents of my mailbox over the past month, I'm one of the most sought after voters in the entire state. However, anyone who's read my blog at all already knows who I'm voting for: it's going to be Steve Laffey all the way.

I can't wait until the dust settles from this one.

Woman jumps from Jamestown bridge

The Providence Journal (registration required) is reporting that a 37 year old North Kingstown woman killed herself by jumping off the Jamestown-Verrazano bridge. The woman survived the jump from the bridge and was pulled out of the water, and was coherent enough to answer questions en route to the hospital before dying that afternoon of her injuries. The story can be read in its entirety here.