Lincoln Chafee will not endorse a candidate during the race for the 2016 Democratic nomination, the former Rhode Island governor and presidential candidate said in an interview conducted as both parties prepare for the nation’s first primary contest in New Hampshire.
Chafee, who left the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in October after participating in the party’s first debate, said that he has "learned better" than to lend support to any candidate before the nomination.
Chafee also said he did not regret withdrawing early from the race, claiming that the role he had sought to play was being filled by Sen. Bernie Sanders. "There was only room for one challenger to Secretary Clinton. Once Sen. Sanders started to gain traction, I got out. Any candidate seeking to challenge her was at a considerable disadvantage. All the party figures support Sec. Clinton, even in Vermont," he said.
"I’m very happy," he added. "I’m doing fine."
Chafee, who, while serving as a U.S. senator from Rhode Island from 1999 to 2007 caucused as a Republican, as his predecessor, his late father, had done, said that his former party has continued to move in what he considers an extremist direction. "Republicans are terrible on foreign policy," he said. "It’s all bellicosity."
He singled out Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush as examples of more congenial "moderate Republicans," but took a dim view of their chances. "Who knows whether they will have any appeal with the extremely angry voters who make up the Republican primary electorate."
"It’s like Gov. Romney and the Etch-a-Sketch: you get to the general election and you have to shake it up and start over," he said, referencing a comment made by Eric Fehrnstrom, an adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, about the difficulties of appealing to both primary and general election voters.
Chafee also compared the tenor of the current Republican race unfavorably to the Democratic contest. "Sec. Clinton and Sen. Sanders are having a contest of ideas," he said.