or is Chafee hoping to get some kind of quid pro quo from his party:

GOP Senator May Oppose UN Choice

Washington -- Senator Lincoln Chafee's office said yesterday that his constituency is "overwhelmingly" opposed to the nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations, signaling that Chafee is leaning against supporting Bolton in a move that could derail the nomination.

If Chafee, a moderate Republican from Rhode Island who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joins with Democrats who are expected to unanimously oppose the nomination, Republicans will not have enough votes to send the confirmation to the Senate floor.

[...]

In recent days, Chafee's Washington office has received about 500 calls and e-mails about Bolton's nomination, and fewer than 10 of them supported Bolton, said Stephen Hourahan, the senator's press secretary.

"We are overwhelmingly hearing from the people of Rhode Island that they are opposed to the Bolton nomination," said Hourahan, who said that Chafee is still undecided about Bolton. But he said that, in the past, Chafee "has voted mostly with the people of Rhode Island's interests in mind."

It's bad enough that the others have all gotten past the Great Appeasers, but stopping this odious jingoist from "representing" us at the UN would be a nice little victory.

In his reelection bid next year, Chafee could face formidable opposition from Secretary of State Matthew A. Brown, a Democrat, who has already begun raising money for the campaign. As a moderate, he could also face a conservative challenger from the Republican party.

Bolton faced near unanimous opposition from Democrats four years ago when he was nominated for his current post as undersecretary for arms control. Only one Democrat, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, voted for him, citing the need to support a new president's nominees.

But Feingold now is undecided about whether or not to support Bolton, and Democratic staff members in the Senate said they expected all eight Democrats on the committee to vote against Bolton.

If just one of the 10 Republicans on the committee joins them, the 9-to-9 tie would prevent the nomination from moving to the Senate floor.

Republican members of the committee would then offer a second resolution referring the matter to the Senate without a positive recommendation. That resolution would also require a majority, which could once again hinge on Chafee.

Committee aides said the Republican-controlled Senate would probably confirm Bolton if the nomination made it out of the committee.

Looks like Feingold will be getting another email from this constituent. He sounded good this morning on CSPAN talking about the PATRIOT ACT hearings.

Here's hoping that Chafee joins Feingold and the other Dems on the committee to derail this terrible nomination.