01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, October 18, 2005

YOU COULDN'T have a more literal demonstration of "sliming" an opponent than an ad being run in behalf of U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.-R.I.). The TV spot, funded by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, seeks to smear his GOP-primary opponent, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey, by showing black gunk oozing down the screen.

As a journalist who has covered politics at all levels fairly closely for 25 years, I found the ad striking on a number of counts:

If Mr. Chafee's backers are resorting to smears this early in his campaign -- almost a year before the election -- he must be in very deep trouble indeed. Politicians are reluctant to "go negative" until absolutely necessary, because such ads damage them, as well their opponents.

Why did the ad makers choose to fuzz out Mayor Laffey's face? Are the Chafee forces that worried about giving voters a clear view of the challenger?

The ad blasts Mayor Laffey as someone who "ran a company selling oil stocks" (he was a very shrewd and successful stock analyst with the Memphis-based brokerage firm Morgan Keegan).

Even if one buys the stereotype that Rhode Island is an anti-business state, the National Republican Senatorial Committee seems to have forgotten that it is Republicans who will be voting in the Chafee-Laffey primary. And when did they start believing that the profit motive is evil?

Moreover, it is a bit of a stretch for the national party to attack people for participating in the energy business. Has the party ever heard of its rather prominent members -- George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, for starters -- who spent some time in that industry? Even if Messrs. Bush and Cheney are about as popular in Rhode Island these days as avian flu, they are presumably doing okay with that cult group known as Rhode Island Republicans -- you know, the people who vote in the GOP primary!

Why would Mr. Chafee's backers want to play against his greatest strength -- his gentle dignity, his decency, his reputation as an honorable man who does what he thinks is right, come what may?

The ad is a splash of acid biting into that hard-earned reputation. It suggests he is as eager to descend into the muck and fling it around as any sleazy Washington politician. After six years in office, it proclaims, Senator Chafee has nothing positive to sell to Republican voters about his own record. A series of such ads could well damage him for the general election, should he survive the Laffey challenge.

It's puzzling.

One typically sees such overwrought negative ads used as "Hail Mary passes" late in a political campaign, when a candidate about to lose is desperately trying to raise doubts about his opponent. It seems distinctly odd for an incumbent senator with an aura of gentle but firm independence to start off his re-election crusade this way.

I know that Senator Chafee has confessed to The Journal's M. Charles Bakst that he does not have "100 percent control over my campaign," but let's get real: He could have stopped those ads, which were presumably being run on his behalf, if he was certain they would hurt him.

Granted, as a maverick who often takes on the GOP establishment, Senator Chafee has a very difficult task before him. He must convince Rhode Island Republicans that his re-election will benefit them, then swing around and convince Rhode Islanders in general -- who vote overwhelmingly Democratic -- of the very same thing.

Still, it's not impossible.

I could see running a sophisticated voter-I.D. campaign, and trying to target likely Republican voters with messages that would move them.

Many may believe that Mayor Laffey is far too abrasive, far too prone to stir up ill will, and that a courtlier demeanor would work better in the U.S. Senate.

Many may respect Senator Chafee for his intelligence and independence, and his ability to deliver pork to Rhode Island, thanks in part to party leaders who desperately want to keep him in the Republican fold.

Others may be loyal to the Bush administration, sharing its belief that retaining GOP control of the Senate is all-important, and that Senator Chafee would stand a much better chance of being elected in November than Mayor Laffey.

Some may even believe that Mayor Laffey should stay in Cranston and Rhode Island -- fighting special interests dedicated to looting the public treasury -- instead of departing for Washington.

But a negative TV ad broadcast to all voters -- including Democrats -- a year before an election is far from a cost-effective way of reaching the small subset that participates in the Republican primary. And the message -- that selling stocks is morally repugnant -- is of limited appeal to such voters, if not an outright insult to their beliefs and intelligence.

The dripping gunk seems to be falling on the senator himself.

Edward Achorn is The Journal's deputy editorial-pages editor. His e-mail address is eachorn [at] projo.com.