The Christian Science Monitor has an article on the GOP’s strategy to keep elections local and emphasize incumbents’ “strong local identities” within their districts. Nowhere was this tactic more evident than in the first debate between incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee and Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse. Chafee attempted to change the subject to issues of corruption in Rhode Island. From the Projo:

Chafee hinged his line of attack on Whitehouse’s handling of an earlier controversy involving alleged expense-account abuses by Urciuoli.

An internal review, commissioned by the hospital’s trustees, discovered thousands of dollars of inappropriate or “highly questionable” expenses, including golf trips and family dinners and stays in luxurious hotels.

In addition, the review commissioned by hospital trustees advised that Urciuoli “may have committed a serious fraud upon the hospital” when he billed $5,998 for an eight-day health-care conference — that did not take place — at the Scottsdale Princess Resort in Arizona.

In 2000, in his role as attorney general, Whitehouse announced that he had persuaded Urciuoli to repay $85,000 that the hospital spent two years earlier investigating his alleged misuse of hospital money.

Whitehouse said then — and again during yesterday’s debate — that he believed he had struck a “major blow” with the settlement.

But Chafee accused Whitehouse of letting slip an opportunity to shut Urciuoli’s unscrupulous activities down six years earlier. He faulted him for not trying harder to obtain a copy of the review, by ex-prosecutor F. Dennis Saylor IV, that laid out a host of criminal charges that had been lodged against other hospital executives for fraudulent cost reports, including attempted larceny and tax evasion.

“It’s a shame,” Chafee said.

“What’s really a shame,” countered Whitehouse, “is that you are just being very misleading. I understand why you are doing this . . . I understand that it’s not good for you to have to explain to the people of Rhode Island that you are going to go down to Washington and vote for this continuing Republican leadership.”

“Are you going to blame George Bush for Roger Williams Hospital?” Chafee asked.

This is the stuff that Republican campaigns are made of — subtle smear campaigns and lots of noise about issues that divert attention from the failures of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. The sad thing is — the tactics frequently work, and Democrats generally do not ramp up the noise or the smears to anywhere near the fevered pitch of the Republicans.

The Whitehouse campaign has continued to urge voters to look closely at Lincoln Chafee’s voting record, recognizing that his actual performance shows that he is not as “liberal” as he would have his constituents believe. A blogger and Whitehouse volunteer recently provided a good summary of some key issues on which Chafee’s votes have hurt important liberal causes.