John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in his grasp, could hardly have been more gracious when I asked what he thought of his former Senate colleague, Lincoln Chafee, endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president.

Loves Chafee, loved his late father, John, the Arizonan said, and, what, be angry? “Oh no, of course not,” said McCain, who came to Rhode Island to help Chafee raise money in his 2006 GOP primary and then again in the general election.

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Photo courtesy of M. Charles Bakst

Audio: Journal political columnist M. Charles Bakst interviews McCain (6 min, 46 sec).

Former Republican Sen. Chafee endorses Obama

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But after McCain’s Thursday visit to Warwick, highlighted by an exuberant rally, his Rhode Island chairman, House GOP Leader Bob Watson, could hardly have been icier toward Chafee.

Watson said of the Republican-turned- independent, “Linc Chafee’s yesterday’s news, where I expect he will remain.”

And by the way, remember former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, the guy Chafee defeated in the primary before losing to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in November?

Surely you recall Laffey, a McCain critic who supported Rudy Giuliani for president. Well, Laffey showed up for McCain’s visit at the Crowne Plaza.

“In the end, I’m a Republican, and we support the nominee,” he told me as he headed into a pre-rally reception.

In his book, Primary Mistake, Laffey said many Republicans saw McCain as unbearably “hypocritical” for coming here in 2006 to urge Rhode Islanders to renominate the liberal Chafee who was on the opposite side of the Iraq war and pork-barrel spending issues.

Laffey added, “If McCain had any chance of winning the Republican base in the 2008 presidential election, he lost it in Rhode Island.”

Now, on Thursday, when I asked about his past criticisms of McCain, Laffey said breezily, “I’m a let-bygones-be-bygones kind of guy.”

Thursday was one of the dizziest days I’ve seen in politics — fascinating to chronicle, but one likely reinforcing voter notions that politicians are merely actors who spout lines of convenience to fit their current needs and circumstances.

Then too, journalists — and the citizenry — could be misinformed. When I spoke with McCain after the Crowne Plaza events, he was heading toward the airport en route to Boston to pick up the endorsement of once bitter rival Mitt Romney.

I said, “I can’t tell you how many stories I read about how you and Romney couldn’t stand each other, and now he’s endorsing you…. What should people make of this kind of thing?”

McCain replied, “They should not make too much of the statement that we couldn’t stand each other, because it’s not true.”

He did acknowledge that primaries are “tough.”

All I can say is that I watched TV coverage later of McCain and former Governor Romney. The words of both men were pleasant, but the body language was still screaming, “WE CAN’T STAND EACH OTHER!!!”

Well, as I say, it was certainly an interesting day. In late morning I spoke with Chafee about his decision to back Obama even though he likes McCain, values his independent streak, and welcomes many of his stands. The problem, of course, is that Chafee, who was the lone Republican to vote against the war in 2002, can’t abide what he sees as McCain’s (and Hillary Clinton’s) colossal misjudgment in rushing to support it.

OK, fine, but let’s go back to 2006. I reminded Chafee of McCain’s headlining a fundraiser for him during the primary at his Exeter farm. What a gorgeous day it was. You may even remember a commercial that was shot at that affair. And then there was the nice Hotel Providence fundraising luncheon McCain starred at during the fall. “You were thrilled to have him,” I said. “Are you telling me that, if we could roll back the film or whatever, that secretly those two days you were cringing at having him around and sort of swallowing your pride and your views of him?”

Chafee responded, “No, we were running as fellow Republicans at the time. And as an indication of the conflict, if you will, between some of the policies, I mean he’s good on many policies, but at the second event, in downtown Providence, he talked about having more troops. And Sheldon Whitehouse used that against me. ‘You stood shoulder to shoulder with Senator McCain. You stood right next to Senator McCain when he urged more troops.’ And of course I wasn’t going to, in front of a fundraising audience, announce that I differ from the senator on that point.”

I said, “Well, on those two days were you glad to have him here or not?”

Chafee said, “On 90 percent of the issues I agree and I was glad. And if I’d been reelected, things might be different. I’d still be a Republican.”

Incidentally, Chafee said it may be a wild sensation voting in a Democratic primary — some Democratic-leaning independents who went into the Republican primary to vote for him likened it to experiencing an outbreak of hives — but he said he believed his moderate father, having seen how conservative the GOP was becoming, would have understood.

Chafee said that after voting for Obama in the March 4 primary he will disaffiliate and become an independent again.

Will he vote for Senator McCain in November if the Democratic nominee turns out to be Clinton? Chafee said he’ll probably look for a third or fourth party or perhaps write someone in.

Obama twice came to Rhode Island to tout Whitehouse over Chafee. Whitehouse, having received even more of a boost over the years from Bill and Hillary Clinton, is supporting the New York senator for president.

Although Chafee told Illinois Senator Obama by phone that he’d endorse him, he did not call McCain to alert him of his decision. “I just assume these people are so busy,” he said.

Hmm.

At the McCain rally on Thursday afternoon, I asked Governor Carcieri, Rhode Island’s only major Republican officeholder, what he thought of Chafee’s going with Obama.

In what may have been a first in all the years I have known Carcieri, he replied, “No comment.”

From the enthusiastic endorsement Carcieri gave McCain in welcoming him at the rally, it was easy to forget that the governor had been the state’s top Romney backer.

Carcieri said he was “so proud” to have McCain on hand, and he boomed:

“We could not have a greater American, a genuine hero, someone who has served our country in incredible ways over a long period of time — all of you know that — whose honesty, straightforwardnesses, is beyond reproach, who tells it like it is…. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to deliver him the state of Rhode Island…. He is going to be without a doubt the next president of the United States.”

Maybe he will be (though if he carries blue Rhode Island in November I will flabbergasted).

I have some trouble envisioning McCain’s being elected. True, this former Navy aviator, shot down over Vietnam, imprisoned and injured, is a heroic figure, as Carcieri told the rally. Indeed, the governor later told him directly, “You’re such an inspirational person….”

Still, at 71, McCain is old for a presidential candidate. More importantly, the Democrats portray the election as the past versus the future. They pound away at a George W. Bush legacy of a disastrous war, tax cuts for the rich, and, now, a tanking economy. For example, just the other day, Obama said, “If John McCain wants to debate the specifics of how well the economy has worked for ordinary families over the last seven years, that is a debate that I am happy to have, because the American people know that Bush’s policies have not worked for ordinary Americans.”

Yet, in our conversation, McCain seemed totally unruffled.

He said of the Democrats, “They want bigger government, higher taxes, more regulation, the government take over the health care system, and surrender in Iraq.”

We were in a van, with Carcieri and Representative Watson, and the afterglow of the rally was palpable. McCain had told the crowd that the struggle against “radical Islamic extremism” is the transcendent issue of the century, and, “We are succeeding in Iraq.”

I said, “In that audience, people loved what you said, but most people in this country can’t take the war anymore, want to end it right away, and it’s hard to see people around the country being impressed by your war stance. Am I missing something?”

He said he wouldn’t be doing so well in the polls against Obama and Clinton if people didn’t consider him strong on that and other issues:

“I just saw a poll today where I am ahead of Senator Obama and Senator Clinton in the major states in this country: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and other states…. If the election were tomorrow, according to most polls, I would win.”

Well, I assume he has polls I don’t know about, although he’s not all that far off in any event. According to the Web site RealClearPolitics.com, most polls recently have had McCain slightly ahead of Clinton, with the average being 47 percent to 45.2 percent. On the other hand, virtually every poll had Obama somewhat ahead of McCain, the average being 47.7 percent to 44 percent, still, of course, highly competitive.

McCain told me, “I’m comfortable with my positions on the issues, and I will tell people, as I have, not only what they want to hear but maybe what they don’t want to hear, and first you’ve got to win their respect and then you win their votes.”

I said I’d hate to be running as a Republican having to defend Bush economics.

McCain quipped, “Fortunately, you’re not, the likelihood of that is slim to none!”

I said, right, but seriously, the Democrats keep pounding, and, after all, McCain admitted economics wasn’t his strong suit.

“Well, I’ve said a lot of things,” the senator retorted. “My economic background is a lot stronger than either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama…. I was in the Reagan revolution when we cut taxes and restored prosperity in a nation that was in severe economic difficulties, so, again….”

And now he reverted to his basic message about the Democrats: “They want bigger government, higher taxes, more regulation. We’ll debate that.”

And he doesn’t feel Mr. Bush is an albatross?

“No, I don’t.”