Why won't Sen. Linc Chafee stand up to the National Republican Senatorial Committee over an ugly, inflammatory TV ad that even he worries might stereotype Hispanics as it attacks primary challenger Steve Laffey on immigration issues?

Why is Laffey so skittish about what he used to discuss freely, that he ran for Cranston mayor in response to God's call?

First, Chafee and the TV spot. I'm less interested in the NRSC message -- that Cranston's acceptance of Mexican identification cards can threaten American security -- than I am about the tone, especially the pictures of Latinos.

State Sen. Juan Pichardo, a Latino, fears the ad's script and imagery will engender "fear" and lead to "prejudice and suspicion toward the Hispanic community." Calling on Chafee to denounce the spot and to ask the NRSC to remove it, Pichardo wrote, "I have never known you to be the type of individual to endorse these types of attacks."

"I understand," Chafee told me Tuesday. But he said Pichardo is a Democrat. So what?

Then Chafee said, "I do agree on some of the points he makes because the facts are that immigration covers a whole host of people" -- Irish among them.

But, in the same cop-out Laffey and other pols use in reference to outside committees, Chafee said he doesn't control the NRSC. And he said that if he denounced this spot, it would set a precedent. "Every ad -- there'd be somebody with a microphone saying, 'Please denounce the ad.' " Hmm.

Meanwhile, in a primary debate on Channel 10 last weekend, Michelle Johnson of the Associated Press asked Laffey, "You've been quoted, or you might say misquoted, as saying that God told you to run for mayor. I was wondering if you could tell me what role religion should play in politics. . . ."

Laffey said he has "strong faith" but makes government decisions based on public policy considerations. Moderator Gene Valicenti then asked if Laffey was quoted accurately about God telling him to run for mayor. He replied, "No, not at all -- I mean in the sense of making a comment early on that says, 'I guess the man upstairs wanted me to run,' like many people would -- that's the kind of comment I made and it came out sort of like that."

But it wasn't some casual comment. Laffey's views about God were spelled out at length in a column I did on Dec. 8, 2002. It was based on listening to the mayor-elect speak at a lunch with Cranston clergy and on interviews with him.

He talked of having worked in Memphis financial circles, pondering what to do next, then deciding to return to Cranston, perhaps for investment banking up here. But then he began to grasp the city's fiscal plight. "It just became very clear to me, 'God, you sent me home to run for mayor.' "

Laffey also called the Bible the true word of God and said, "I believe that Noah came and it was 40 days and 40 nights." He also spoke of being divorced from his first wife, Sabrina, followed by marriage to Kelly, "an angel." He said his divorce and the death of a brother helped him empathize with people. "So I really think that God sent [Sabrina] away so I could learn that and sent someone else into my life to really get me on the right path." Laffey didn't complain about the column.

In a Sept. 4, 2003 column, Mayor Laffey repeated his belief that God had wanted him to run. He didn't complain about that column either.

Now he refuses to be interviewed on his debate comments.

Theology is not a major Senate issue. But if a pol tries to remake his image so dramatically, I think voters might have questions about what he's doing.

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

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