The Eye

"I'm running as an independent here in Rhode Island" he told Maddow. "Rhode Island has a strong streak of independence. And it's the largest voting bloc, actually, our unaffiliated voters in Rhode Island. So, I decided to run as an independent."

However, following local press reports of an official candidacy announcement, Chafee issued a statement modifying that claim.

"My comments last evening...were based on the positive feedback I have received thus far in my exploratory campaign," he said. "My intentions are to run for governor. Sen. Specter's announcement to leave the Republican Party only served to reinforce that my decision to leave the party in 2007 was the right one."

He will make a formal announcement, he continued, once his fellowship at Brown University's Watson Institute in Providence has concluded.

Several months after his defeat by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in 2006, Chafee dropped his affiliation with the GOP and declared himself an independent. A left-leaning moderate during his tenure in office -- he was appointed to succeed his late father, Republican John H. Chafee, then won his one full term in 2000 -- Chafee voted more often than not with Democrats on social issues such as abortion and gay rights, and was the only Senate Republican to vote against the Iraq War.

"It's not my party anymore," he said at the time of his departure. "There's been a gradual depravation of the issues the party should be strong on."

Chafee's comments on Tuesday's program would have marked the first definitive campaign kickoff for the state's gubernatorial race. Though there are a handful of Democrats pondering bids - General Treasurer Frank Caprio, Attorney General Patrick Lynch, and Lieutenant Gov. Elizabeth Roberts - and one Republican, State Rep. Joe Trillo, political observers agree Chafee would be a formidable opponent.

"He would be a very strong challenger," said Darrell West, a former professor at Brown University and currently vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. "He's well-known and well-liked in Rhode Island. In 2006, when he lost his Senate bid, he had a good job approval rating of 64 percent, so his defeat really was not personal to him; it was the fact that people hated Bush and didn't want a Republican."

-- Emma Dumain