Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has no money and no support, but he still thinks he has a shot at securing the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, even in the face of blunt questions from the press about when he’ll leave the campaign.
“I came into the race knowing the reality that Secretary [Hillary] Clinton was going to take all the money essentially,” Chafee said Wednesday in an awkward interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “And if there was an insurgent candidate, there might be an opportunity to raise some money. Senator [Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.] is that insurgent candidate raising the money. But for the rest of us, it’s very difficult. I’m not raising much money. But I do have a budget and I’m living within it.”
He admitted that his campaign has raised only $30,000.
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Blitzer noted the obvious: “[Y]ou know you can’t really run a successful campaign in Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina, Nevada, the first four states, with a limited amount of money like that. You have no chance with a limited amount of money like that.”
“You’re a sophisticated politician. You had a distinguished career in the Senate,” he continued. “You were elected governor of your home state. Why bother right now? If you have limited money, limited support, why keep going?”
The former governor conceded he has money issues, but he added his message of war and peace keeps him motivated.
Chafee’s attempt to downplay the apparent hopelessness of his presidential campaign comes just hours after he gave what has been characterized in the press as a disastrous and embarrassing performance in the Democratic debate Tuesday evening. Blitzer kept at it, reminding Chafee in increasingly clear terms that the former governor has no shot of winning the party’s nomination.
“[Y]ou’re barely campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina and Nevada. And so the question is, why bother right now? Aren’t there other ways you could get your voice heard on these sensitive issues like war and peace?” he asked.
Chafee corrected Blitzer by saying he has visited New Hampshire recently.
Upping the ante, the CNN anchor then called Chafee’s attention to the press’ low opinion of his debate performance.
“Here’s what worries me, governor, that, you know, because of your distinguished career, you’re going to wind up looking silly if you keep going on like this,” Blitzer said. “At what point will you decide, you know what, there are other things for me to do instead of a futile effort to try to get the Democratic presidential nomination?”
“I’m in it as far as I can continue to raise these issues. They’re important and I feel strongly about that,” he said. Chafee then repeated that he’s motivated to spread peace throughout the world.
Blitzer let it go at that.
