I asked Steve Laffey for a comment about Lincoln Chafee’s decision to leave the GOP. Laffey is the conservative who challenged Chafee in last year’s Rhode Island Senate primary–only to have the NRSC spent oodles of money on Chafee. Here’s Laffey’s reply, via email:

I always expected him to leave the Republican Party–the only question was when. It is still hard to understand why the National Republican Party leaders didn’t comprehend that, or couldn’t see it coming. And then you have to wonder again why they spent so much time and effort on someone who was going to desert them anyway. People have asked me if I feel vindicated. I feel sad. I just wish he had been honest with himself, the voters of Rhode Island, his supporters and especially all the donors across this great country of ours.

Bonus Laffey: An exclusive NRO audio interview on his new book, Primary Mistake, about his experience challenging Chafee and the national GOP.