PROVIDENCE -- No one group has spent more on Lincoln D. Chafee's battle to hang onto his U.S. Senate seat than the National Republican Senatorial Committee, whose main mission in life is to keep the GOP in control in Washington.

The NRSC has booked at least $376,000 worth of TV ad time during the final three weeks before the Sept. 12 primary.

It paid $181,587 in recent weeks to an Alexandria, Va., company to produce the recent deluge of glossy mailers assailing GOP primary challenger Stephen P. Laffey's record as mayor of Cranston.

At the national level, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, chairwoman of the NRSC, has attached this warning to an urgent appeal for campaign donations: "What would a Democrat majority mean for you and me?

"It would mean President Bush's tax cuts would expire, conservative federal judges would be rejected in favor of liberal activist judges, cut-and-run foreign policies would cost us the War on Terrorism . . ."

"Even more disturbing," she wrote, "these same liberal Democrats would spend the next two years harassing the Bush Administration with ridiculous partisan investigations and likely move to impeach President Bush."

But what the NRSC talks about in blue-state Rhode Island are the kinds of issues that more commonly dominate a mayoral race, such as the alleged "perks" Laffey acquired as mayor after raising taxes in Cranston. They include a "brand new SUV with leather seats . . . Apparently a regular interior isn't good enough for Steve Laffey."

The NRSC refuses to discuss the hundreds of thousands of dollars it has spent here in its feverish effort to hold onto its five-vote margin of control in the U.S. Senate. Spending reports are still coming in.

But with polls indicating that Chafee has a much better chance than Laffey at beating the likely Democratic nominee, the final tally will no doubt far exceed the $1.1 million the NRSC spent on its failed 1996 effort to foil Democratic Sen. Jack Reed.

On Friday, NRSC spokesman Dan Ronayne gave this rationale for the heavy NRSC spending on the reelection of a senator who voted against the Iraq war, against the Bush tax cuts and against the president's nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court:

"He is the only Republican that can keep this seat for our party and will prevent the seat from falling into the hands of a liberal Democrat."

By way of comparison, the Chafee camp recited how much Laffey's principal backer -- the Club For Growth, which champions free trade, school choice and other issues dear to many Republicans -- has spent to try to get him elected. That included $522,945 on TV advertising.

But the Chafee camp refused to discuss the NRSC's contributions to the Chafee relection effort, except to confirm $17,500 in cash donations and $100,000 toward the cost of Chafee's last two TV ads.

The campaign also confirmed splitting with the NRSC the cost of the Public Opinion Strategies poll showing Chafee in the lead that was released by the NRSC on the same day last week that a Rhode Island College poll gave Laffey a 17-point edge.

Chafee's share of the polling costs over time was $40,910.

Party leaders have come to his aid in other ways. First Lady Laura Bush came to Rhode Island to help him raise money. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist headlined a $1,000-per-ticket fundraising party in Washington in June.

More than 20 of his Republican Senate colleagues wrote checks -- totaling $149,500 -- out of campaign committees with names such as the Republican Majority Fund, the Alamo AC, Defend America, Good Government for America, Hawkeye, and Straight Talk America PAC.

A distinction: Chafee has been the recipient of more labor money -- a total of $87,400 -- than any other Republican in the U.S. Senate, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

A recent NRSC fundraising appeal said: "Big Labor is pouring tens of millions of dollars into key states and other liberal special interests are doing the same to help elect Democrats." But Republican Chafee's contributors include the political arms of the Laborers International Union of North America, which gave him $10,000; the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which each gave $5,000. The list goes on and it includes the bricklayers, ironworkers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Food & Commercial Workers Union and more.

Armand Sabitoni, the Rhode Islander who is general secretary-treasurer and New England regional manager of the laborers union, said his union's "general policy is to support incumbents who have demonstrated support for our legislative issues," and Chafee qualifies. Sabitoni credited him with an instrumental role in passing a $285-billion highway bill helping to finance the relocation of Route 195. "He has been supportive on other issues [overtime pay, immigration, minimum wage] but infrastructure is our bread and butter," he said.

Some unions -- such as the AFT -- gave money to Chafee and to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. "Whenever I have asked Senator Chafee for a hard vote, he has come through," but "we respect both candidates," said Marcia Reback, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers. Asked how hard it would be to choose sides in a Chafee-Whitehouse race, Reback said it would be "an extremely difficult choice when what you have is the possibility the Democrats are going to take five seats in the Senate and Rhode Island would be the sixth seat . . . with the mess we have in the federal government right now, we really need a Democratic majority in the Senate and the House to bring back some sanity."

"Our best-case scenario is that Laffey wins the primary, then we don't have a dilemna. We don't have a hard choice to make," she said candidly. (Chafee versus Whitehouse: "Yes, that would be a difficult decision," echoed J. Michael Downey, president of AFSCME Council 94.)

Chafee has another distinction.

He is one of only two U.S. senators to receive a direct contribution ($2,000) from the Arab-American Leadership PAC, and he had fundraisers hosted for him in New York and Washington by prominent figures in the Arab-American community. One was hosted by U.S. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., and his father, the former New Hampshire governor who was chief of staff to the first President Bush. (The Sununus are descended from Catholic Palestinians who emigrated from Lebanon, according to media reports.)

The Web site of the Arab American Institute lauds Chafee for being one of the first elected officials to call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, one of six senators to sign a July 26 letter pledging support to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and a "consistent advocate" for a independent Palestinian state.

George Salem, chairman of the institute and co-host of one of the fundraisers, said the Rhode Island senator is viewed as "a voice of reason in the Middle East."

The Chafee camp says the senator also has the support of -- and a $1,500 contribution from -- the Joint Committee for Political Affairs, which describes itself as "a pro-Israel PAC with a conscience." Among its other issues: "reproductive choice".

Tomorrow: A look at Cranston Mayor and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Stephen P. Laffey's campaign finances. kgregg@projo.com / (401) 277-7078