Sen. Linc Chafee and Republican primary challenger Steve Laffey meet tomorrow in an 8 p.m. Channel 12 debate to be carried also on C-SPAN, and viewers around the country may find it hard to follow.

Their impression of the Rhode Island race is probably something like this: Chafee is that far-out liberal who refused to vote for George Bush's reelection, and Cranston Mayor Laffey is the conservative who backs the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war and opposes abortion.

They may not know that when I asked the "pro-life" Laffey last year if he wants Roe v. Wade reversed, he said, "It's settled law. . . . So let it go."

They may not know that the Iraq war supporter now calls for Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld's resignation.

And they almost certainly do not know that in the closing moments of a radio debate last Thursday on WPRO's Dan Yorke show, Laffey, the guy you think of as the Bush enthusiast, made a point of saying, "It's very important to know that President Bush supports Linc Chafee and not me."

The White House and the national GOP establishment do back Chafee. They believe he has a better shot at keeping the seat in Republican hands.

Still, on a day in which The Providence Journal reported that Bush's approval rating in Rhode Island -- 22 percent -- was the lowest of any state, I was struck by Laffey's comment that it was "very important" for folks to know the president supports Chafee, not him. So, after the program, I asked about it.

Laffey said, "I respect Mr. Bush, but I think he's failed in a number of aspects, like No Child Left Behind, like the runaway spending, like not securing the borders, like not having a new national energy policy. I think the Washington elite have failed us. So the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which ran vicious [anti-Laffey] ads, and the President of the United States are with Mr. Chafee."

I asked, "And you're not with the president?"

Laffey replied, "No, I'm with the people," and he laughed.

As for how he would rate Bush's job performance, he said, "I don't know. But anyway, listen, the great failure after 9/11 was not securing our borders and developing a national energy policy. . . . He didn't do it. It's a failure, but, overall, he's a good man, he's a decent man."

Q: "Do you generally approve of the job he's doing?"

A: "I agree with some things and I disagree with some things."

During tomorrow's debate, co-sponsored by The Journal, Laffey surely will denounce special interests but not likely the Washington-based Club for Growth, the most prominent special interest group involved in this race. It backs tax cuts for the rich and spends a bundle on TV ads attacking Chafee.

I asked Laffey if he likes the tone of the spots. "No, not really," he said. But, "The Club for Growth can do what they want to do. If you've got a problem with them, call them. I'm responsible for my own ads and that's it."

Last year, stung by Republican senatorial committee ads strafing him, Laffey urged Chafee to demand they be dropped.

I like Laffey's warm ad that shows his parents. But it has some oddities. For example, the spot says, "My parents live on Social Security and Medicare." But Laffey is a multi-millionaire; he should help them out, no? He told me he does. So why does that go unmentioned? He said, "There's 30 seconds in a commercial. . . . There's not 60 seconds. There's not four minutes."

Tomorrow's debate is 60 minutes. Let's see how that plays.

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal's political columnist.

mbakst@projo.com /(401) 277-7638