The Senate's last remaining Rockefeller Republican appears to be in serious jeopardy of keeping his seat in Rhode Island, according to a new poll. Lincoln Chafee, a liberal on most issues -- though a member of the GOP -- would lose handily to the state's Democratic Governor should the election be held today. The Providence Journal's Scott McKay reports:

A public opinion survey commissioned by U.S. Senate Democrats shows Republican incumbent Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee to be vulnerable to a Democratic challenge in 2006, especially if the candidate is U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin, of Warwick.

The poll numbers released yesterday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee show Langevin with 52 percent, Chafee at 32 percent and 17 percent undecided, said Cara Morris, spokeswoman for the committee.

[...]

The poll also tested two other Democrats who have expressed an interest in running against Chafee -- Secretary of State Matthew Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse, the former attorney general. The Democratic committee refused to release those numbers, but party sources -- and Chafee's staff -- said those results showed the senator with a big lead over Whitehouse and an even larger margin over Brown.

It is a bit early to begin doling out endorsements, but I would tend to support Chafee over his Democratic rivals due to my belief in the importance of comity between the two parties (I supported moderate Republican Arlen Specter this year, for instance). The race might be long away, but it will certainly be one to watch in 2006.