Former Republican Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee says he wants to be free of the chains of party politics.
And so he is running for Rhode Island governor as an independent. Chafee left the Republican Party in 2007 after losing his Senate re-election bid to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. 
Chafee, a social liberal who often crossed the floor to vote with the Democrats, is now a visiting fellow at Brown University in Providence, R.I. He announced on Monday he will run for governor in a bid to replace two-term Republican Governor Don Carcieri who cannot run again in November because of term limits.
“I believe that running as an independent will free me from the constraints that party politics impose on candidates,” Chafee said.
Chafee, 56, who worked as a professional farrier for several years before entering politics, stands a chance to canter ahead of the usual two-horse race in the Ocean State.
