Chafee poised for more national press

In a year in which independent candidates are gaining steadily more attention, Lincoln Chafee has become a poster child for this movement.

A photo of the former Republican graced the front page of USA Today earlier this week, in a story headlined, “A rebellion in the middle: independents gain favor.” A clip of the page taped to a wall greets visitors to Chafee’s traditional campaign office on Airport Road in Warwick.

That was the place where volunteers showed up yesterday for training on gathering ballot signatures. Among the reporters in the house was Matt Bai of the New York Times, who’s developing a story for the daily paper on Chafee and independent candidates. Bai happens to be a former ProJo intern.