Ex-Rhode Island governor Chafee joins race for 2016 Democratic nomination

Republican-turned-Independent says US must extricate itself from ‘expensive wars,’ switch to metric system

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton has a third underdog challenger for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee entered the race Wednesday, casting himself as an anti-war candidate who opposed the invasion of Iraq back when Clinton supported it.

“We must deliberately and carefully extricate ourselves from expensive wars,” Chafee told a half-full law school classroom at George Mason University in northern Virginia. “We need to be very smart in these voluble times overseas.”

With his announcement, Chafee became the biggest longshot among Clinton rivals who have a long way to go to avoid becoming historical footnotes in the 2016 campaign.

Clinton has set a goal of raising $100 million for her primary bid. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who entered the race last week, has said he’s already raised at least $4 million. And allies of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley have established a super political action committee to support his efforts.

All three have begun building robust campaign operations with staff across the country, a step Chafee has yet to take.

Chafee, a former Republican turned independent who joined the Democratic Party two years ago, has made little effort to set up a competitive campaign operation, beyond a few visits and calls to activists in the early voting states of New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina.

The policy prescriptions in his speech included some probable non-starters, such as moving the US to the metric system.

He also called for an end to capital punishment, said National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden should be let back into the US without punishment, proposed repairing relations with Venezuela and said he favored an “open-minded approach” to drug trafficking.

His priority would be to end all wars.

“Let’s wage peace in this new American century,” he said.

Longtime Chafee strategists and donors said earlier they know little about his intentions — or even his rationale for running.

“He’s not done anything other than posture on some issues,” said Mike Trainor, a former Chafee aide. “The question he’s going to have to answer is what credible indications can he give that he is at all ready to run a national campaign.”

In previous campaigns, Chafee has spent significant sums from his family fortune to further his political ambitious, for example dropping $1.8 million on his 2010 governor’s race. Running for president is significantly more expensive than seeking statewide office, with some pegging the estimated cost of a successful 2016 campaign at more than $1 billion.