Both Sen. Lincoln Chafee '75, R-R.I., and Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey are awash in greenbacks for their Republican Senate primary duel, but Laffey's fund raising has kicked into high gear and may leave Chafee behind.
Chafee has more cash on hand for the primary election - $1.5 million, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. But Laffey has accelerated ahead of Chafee, raising more money than the incumbent since January, according to Nachama Soloveichik, Laffey's press secretary.
Laffey's campaign raised $328,000 in the first quarter of 2006, with $901,000 on hand for the Republican primary, according to Soloveichik.
Laffey has received significant contributions from out of state thanks to his endorsement from the Wall Street-based Club for Growth, said Jennifer Duffy, a Rhode Island native and managing editor of the Cook Political Report.
Most of Chafee's contributions have come from within the state, said Ian Lang, Chafee's campaign manager. Chafee raised a total of $300,203 during the first quarter.
Money is less of an issue for Chafee, though, whose personal fortune is well over $1 million, according to his 2004 U.S. Senate Financial Disclosure Report.
"The money will be there no matter what (for Chafee)," Duffy said. "If he has to write a check to his campaign, he obviously will."
Chafee may have caught a major break thanks to fading campaign hopes for Democratic primary candidate and Secretary of State Matt Brown campaign, Duffy said.
"While not having a primary certainly would be better for Whitehouse and the Democrats, not having a primary will be better for Chafee," Duffy said. "The less competitive the Democratic Primary is, the easier Chafee will have getting independents (to vote) in a Republican primary."
A majority of registered Rhode Island voters are unaffiliated, and only 38 percent are registered Democrats. The state's election laws allow for unaffiliated voters to temporarily register as a Republican or a Democrat on the day of the primary and participate in either of those elections.
"Getting out the vote is (vital) ... and Chafee is trying to bring out as many independents as he can," said Darrell West, professor of political science and director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy.
