"Holding to the Center, Losing My Seat," by Rhode Island Republican Senator Lincoln D. Chafee

From The New York Times:

LAST Tuesday, I was one of the many moderate Republican casualties of the anti-Bush virulence that swept the country. Despite my having voted against the Iraq war resolution, my reputation for independence, the editorial endorsement of virtually every newspaper in my state, and a job approval rating of 63 percent, I did not win. Why?

Back in December 2000, after one of the closest elections in our nation’s history, Vice President-elect Dick Cheney was the guest at a weekly lunch meeting of a small group of centrist Republicans. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and I were honored to have the opportunity to visit with him on the eve of a session of Congress in which, because of Republican defeats, the Senate would be evenly divided at 50-50.

As we sat in Senator Specter’s cozy hideaway office and discussed the coming session, I was startled to hear the vice president dismiss suggestions of compromise and instead emphasize an aggressively partisan agenda that included significant tax cuts, the abandonment of international agreements and a muscular, unilateral foreign policy.

I was incredulous. Instead of a new atmosphere of cooperation and civility which, after all, had been the promise of the Bush-Cheney campaign, we seemed ready to return to the poisonous partisanship that marked the Republican-Congress — Clinton White House years.

In response to the vice president’s comments I quickly sent him a letter to reinforce the views I expressed at the lunch. Excerpts follow:

As a follow-up to our meeting, I would like to pose a few thoughts.

In my view, one of the most popular refrains expressed by Governor Bush during the presidential campaign was, “I am a uniter, not a divider.” I believe moderate Republicans can help the new administration develop a unifying agenda in the next session of Congress.

We are on an encouraging course toward reducing the national debt, and I believe we must maintain discipline both in discretionary spending and in proposals for significant tax cuts. This time of continued relative prosperity and peace is an extremely important opportunity for our country to stay on a firm pathway toward elimination of the debt.

Majorities from both parties in Congress expressed support in the past year for reform of the estate tax and repeal of the so-called marriage tax penalty. This appears to be an area of great promise for early bipartisan cooperation.

Progress on environmental issues could do much to enhance the new administration’s program. I hope the new administration will be open to proposals to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil through energy conservation and greater investments in mass transit.

I hope we can work together to resolve some of the controversial subjects that Democrats exploited during the campaign. If we could take such issues off the table in the early part of the new administration, I believe it would strengthen public support for the work ahead.

Obviously, my suggestions were not heeded. Our country faces daunting challenges. I believe my letter of six years ago is worth reviewing as the administration prepares for its last two years in office and as Republicans contemplate the direction our party will head in the future.

Do I have any regrets about Tuesday’s outcome? Yes. I regret that I will not be able to participate in the difficult, but critical, healing process that must take place in our government if Democrats and Republicans are going to solve the serious problems facing this great nation.

I hope the new Congress and the administration that received, in the president’s words, “a thumping,” can find common ground for the common good.