So Linc Chafee survives to fight another day.

In the bruising Republican Senate primary, Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey laid a glove on the incumbent but couldn't knock him out.

Folks here have not been of a mind to toss out senators. In a Democratic state, the Chafee name has long symbolized moderate Republicanism. "The senator is perfectly positioned for Rhode Island," campaign manager Ian Lang said last night at the Chafee party at the Biltmore. "He's an independent voice for the people."

Now Chafee faces Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, who denounces George Bush and the GOP Congress.

Laffey was the darling of a strident national conservative crusade. But he preferred to run as a lone-wolf populist, increasingly distancing himself from Mr. Bush, picturing Chafee as part of an elite political establishment and as unwilling to challenge the "special interests" that dominate Washington.

Speaking yesterday to a mostly out of state press corps outside Cranston's Waterman School, where he voted, Laffey assailed "the big sugar producers, the big drug companies, the big oil companies."

Chafee long pummeled him as a mercurial, temperamental opportunist and presented himself as a steady voice who voted his conscience.

The political world was watching this primary.

CNN's Washington-based Dana Bash was there at 7 a.m. when Chafee got to Exeter's Metcalf School to vote. "It's an amazingly rich story," she said of his battle. She said no one seems more "out of sorts" in the GOP caucus than Chafee, so it was "bizarre" to see the national party rally around him. Its theory: he can beat Whitehouse; Laffey could not.

Chafee was hopeful but pensive. He wore a lucky watch he bought with a $50 classics prize he won at Brown in 1975.

Between him and his late father, John, who was elected governor in 1962 and later became senator, one Chafee or the other has held top office for most of these 44 years. Now, seeking a second full term, did the son worry he was going to blow it and lose a seat that once seemed could be his for life? He said he never felt he had a lock; politics is too uncertain. "The issues are going to change and voters are going to look at how I perform."

Laffey called him irrelevant and indecisive. But Chafee said yesterday he was proud of his votes, especially against the Iraq war. "Who's going to doubt that vote now?"

Stephanie Chafee said later that her husband does his homework. "He always says to me, 'Think before you make a decision, Stephanie.' "

The first voters I saw at Chafee's polling place in Exeter, where he and Stephanie have a farm, were Laffey's. "He'll stir things up," said Robin Cerio. Her husband, Kerry, said, "I just want to see things change."

But at Cranston's Waterman School, Claire Greene, 84, favored Chafee. She was down on Laffey for raising property taxes. And, "Laffey says I'm going to die out anyway," a reference to his comment about some elderly GOP leaders. The mayor apologized, but Chafee pounded away in ads anyway.

This was an ugly election, with Laffey's side -- notably the conservative Club for Growth -- having to share the blame. How does this stuff happen? Stephanie Chafee said, "Unfortunately, all of our pollsters tell us the way to move the voters is through the negative ad and not the positive ad. And then you go, 'Oh, I don't believe you, I don't believe you, I don't believe you.' And then you watch your polling numbers and you go, 'Okay, well, maybe you might be right.' "

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

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