PROVIDENCE — Former Republican U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee yesterday endorsed Barack Obama for president, citing the Illinois senator’s judgment and longstanding opposition to the Iraq war.

Chafee, who lost a run for reelection in 2006, was the only Republican in the Senate to oppose giving President Bush the authority to attack Iraq, in a vote in 2002. Obama, a Democrat who was not in the Senate in 2002, opposed the war authorization in a speech in Chicago.

In making the endorsement, Chafee said Americans who oppose the war deserve a nominee on the ballot who was against it from the beginning. “It was such a colossal error in judgment,” said Chafee, in an interview after he made the endorsement. “For Americans who feel like I do, we deserve a choice on this issue.”

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Rhode Island’s primary is March 4, the same day as the key states of Ohio and Texas.

Chafee disaffiliated from the GOP last summer, saying the modern Republican Party no longer represented his values.

The former Rhode Island senator suggested several days ago he was leaning toward Obama. He informed Obama in a telephone call on Tuesday that he would support him, and offered to help the campaign in Rhode Island. “I said anything he wanted, I would do for him,” said Chafee.

Chafee’s endorsement came a few hours before the likely Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, was due in Rhode Island for a campaign event. McCain campaigned for Chafee in 2006.

“I ran in 2006 as a Republican, and that’s the way the system works,” Chafee said. “In fact, Senator Obama came to Rhode Island twice to campaign for my opponent [Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse] in that election. That’s just the way the system works, and I’m sure Senator McCain will understand.”

McCain voted in favor of giving Mr. Bush the authority to attack Iraq, as did Democratic candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Chafee served in the Senate with all three top contenders.

“I found [Obama] to be very smart, very eloquent, and I found him to have excellent judgment, particularly before he came to the Senate in opposing the unnecessary war in Iraq,” said Chafee.

In one sense, the 2008 Rhode Island Democratic primary is a mirror image of the 2006 general election race. In that contest, the get-out-the-vote effort to defeat Chafee and elect Whitehouse was coordinated by consultant Mike Dorsey. This year, Dorsey is running Obama’s efforts in Rhode Island with Chafee’s support, while Whitehouse has endorsed Clinton.

marsenau@projo.com