One of the more intriguing possibilites on the Democratic side surfaced Friday. Although his interest level is unclear, it will make an interesting story if he does run: Bancroft Littlefield Jr.

Better known as Nick Littlefield, he is a Rhode Island native who lives in Massachusetts. He was chief of staff for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from 1989 to 1998 and now works as a lawyer at the Boston law firm of Foley Hoag & Eliot.

He went to Harvard and Penn law school. His father, the late Bancroft Littlefield, was a lawyer at Edwards & Angell.

The kicker: Littlefield worked on Republican Chafee's 1966 campaign for governor, and then managed Chafee's fourth bid for governor, in 1968, which Chafee lost to Frank Licht.

"I'm sure I'm the only one you've talked to who worked for both Senator Chafee and Senator Kennedy," Littlefield, 56, told Political Scene.

While declining to discuss a Senate run, he didn't rule it out.

"I've spent more time in Rhode Island than any other state," he said. "I feel very strongly about the state and the United States Senate."

The plot thickens

Here's the most far-out rumor to circulate around the State House last week regarding the Chafees, old and young: Senator Chafee will fall ill this summer and will be unable to serve, allowing Governor Almond to appoint someone to fill out the senator's term. That someone, according to this rumor, will be Mayor Lincoln Chafee, the senator's son, who said last week he is running for Dad's seat.

A Democratic source delivered this news to Political Scene with a straight face. But at Senator Chafee's office, spokesman Nicholas Graham laughed out loud.

"Since it's Academy Awards time, let me put it like this: any such claim about Senator Chafee is clearly an attempt to secure an Oscar this year for Best Fiction Screenplay," Graham said.

According to Graham, this is the real scenario: "Senator Chafee plans to complete his term, the Democratic primary is going to have all the calmness of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, and Mayor Lincoln Chafee should start renting Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

Chain reaction

Of course, Chafee's dramatic announcement last Monday has caused a ripple throughout the food chain of Rhode Island's current officeholders.

By Thursday night, Rep. Robert A. Weygand, a Democrat, had announced he will run for Chafee's Senate seat. That means an open seat in the U.S. House, and at least three Rhode Island Democrats already say they're interested: the new lieutenant governor, Charles J. Fogarty, who gets a free ride thanks to four-year terms; and state Representatives Peter N. Wasylyk and David N. Cicilline, two lawyers from Providence.

With Republican Lincoln Chafee's announcement that he hopes to succeed his father, Warwick voters face the prospect of electing a new mayor - and names are flying around the Democrat-dominated city. George Zainyeh, the Democratic contender who twice lost to Chafee, says he'll probably be in the race again. Another Republican, East Providence Mayor Joseph Larisa, is considering a move.

Secretary of State James R. Langevin and Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse, meanwhile, say they are interested in challenging Weygand in a Democratic primary. If they run, they will be running in the middle of four-year terms. Same with Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. If House Speaker John B. Harwood of Pawtucket jumps in, his departure would set off a swirl in the House chamber for a job at least as powerful as the governor's.

Then, of course, there is the ripple of interest in the Senate from outside the circle of current officeholders. There's Myrth York, Richard Licht, Joseph Paolino Jr. There's even interest from outside the state: Daniel Doyle (a Connecticut resident) and Nick Littlefield (see above).

Rhode Islanders have not seen this kind of political jockeying in a long time.

Darrell West, an independent pollster from Brown University, said that Chafee's announcement was an "earthquake of massive scale, and the tremors are just reaching throughout the government, because as one person moves to think about running for another office, that frees up opportunity for others."

While Chafee is one of the state's most revered political figures, the feeding frenzy illustrates one of the drawbacks of having someone in office for decades, West said.

"The downside of the fact that we elect our senators for 25 years is that it defers ambition," he said. "It makes it difficult for people who want to move up to be able to do so. When a seat opens up, you have two decades of ambitious people who see themselves running for that seat."

The battle for Blue Cross

Another political name has been recruited for Rhode Island's simmering health insurance battle. First, the Massachusetts Blue Cross system lined up former House Majority Leader George Caruolo to help it merge with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Now, the other bidder in the war for the Rhode Island Blue Cross - Indiana-based Anthem Insurance Companies - has tapped former Atty. Gen. Jeff Pine.

"Anthem has retained us," Pine said the other day, speaking from his law office at Peabody & Arnold.

Both Caruolo and Pine are intimately familiar with the bureaucratic intricacies of the state's hospital conversion act, which is expected to be applied to the state's review of any Blue Cross merger.

Caruolo is credited with writing the bill and shepherding it through the General Assembly in 1997. Pine has used it to scrutinize proposed hospital deals.

Both of the former politicians will have to be careful to avoid running afoul of the state's "revolving door law," which prohibits elected officials from lobbying for one year after they leave office.

Caruolo has said he will not engage in any lobbying. Pine said his reading of the law says he cannot have contact with his former agency - the attorney general's office - but that he can lobby at the State House.

"I would have to remove myself before any appearances before (the attorney general's staff)," Pine said. "It doesn't prohibit you from going in front of other agencies, or getting involved in other aspects of the issue."

But Pine added that he does not intend to lobby, and that his role will be limited to "representing (Anthem's) legal interests," reading the state laws and giving Anthem advice.

Experienced help

Sen. Jack Reed has a new press secretary.

He's Greg McCarthy, 36, who once flacked for Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator who is now running for the Democratic nomination for president.

McCarthy is a Troy, N.Y., native who followed a well-trodden path into national politics. He caught Potomac fever as an undergraduate at Catholic University in Washington, toiling part time in Bradley's Senate mailroom.

McCarthy's resume also features the always-useful entry from a major campaign. He handled scheduling for Bradley's last election drive, in 1990.

After a stint in the New Jersey Department of Labor under then-Gov. Jim Florio, McCarthy privatized. He's been communications director for the past five years at a big lobbying firm.

McCarthy's wife, Margo Wootan, is a scientist at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. They have a 10-month-old daughter, Camryn.

The other Jack

Meanwhile, there's some news from the ranks of Reed's alumni. Todd Andrews, a spokesman for Jack Reed in his House and his Senate incarnations, is now with CVS, the Rhode Island-based drug store chain.

Andrews, a Rhode Island native who broke into politics as an aide to then-Sen. Claiborne Pell, runs corporate communications for CVS. That's the corporate term for flack.

Andrews moved to the private sector in time for the arrival of his second child, John Montgomery Andrews, in January. Mom, former Pell aide Julie Montgomery, is on leave from Brown Univeristy's community relations shop.

Senator Reed, who attended the christening a few weeks ago, seemed quite pleased to report that the lad is known as "Jack."