One choice for Obama’s Vice-Presidential selection I haven’t heard mentioned much is former Senator Lincoln Chafee. For several reasons, I think Chafee could quite possibly be a good fit for Obama.

Chafee, 55, is a former Republican Senator from Rhode Island. He was defeated in 2006 by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, despite having fairly high job approval ratings.

In the summer of 2007, Chafee left the Republican party and became an Independent. He endorsed Obama in February, a few weeks before the Democratic primary.

As a former Republican and Independent, Chafee could, as the VP candidate, help Obama’s appeal to some Independents and liberal Republicans. And while Chafee would bring some more from the center, he would probably not offend many Liberals, as his voting record is to the left on almost every controversial issue: He was the only Republican to vote against the Iraq war resolution (which 29 Democrats voted for, as opposed to just 21 who voted against), he is a strong supporter of abortion and gay marriage, and he has opposed many of President Bush’s policies and appointments, including Justice Samuel Alito and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. Chafee went so far as to consider challenging him in the 2004 primary, and opting to vote for a write-in (George H.W. Bush, the current President’s father), rather than for President Bush.

Having spent over seven years in the Senate, Chafee would bring experience, particularly foreign policy experience, to the ticket and he would be able to do that likely without contradicting Obama’s message, which often emphasizes change and being an outsider to the government, since he is from a different party (change) and because he only spent seven years in the Senate (being a Mayor prior to that), and was then defeated (outsider). His years as Mayor of Warwick give him a small amount of executive experience. At 55, Chafee is a pretty good age, he is not young enough to accentuate problems people might have with Obama’s age, yet he is certainly not too old either.

Chafee does not however, hail from a key geographical area as his home state of Rhode Island, as well as almost every state close to it, should be easily carried by Obama (I do think that the value of having a VP candidate from a swing state is overrated; when was the last time a VP was picked from a crucial swing state?). Also, liberal activists may be a little hesitant since Bush campaigned for Chafee in 2006, and the Republican Senatorial committee spent millions trying to defend him.

One interesting scenario would be if Obama picked Chafee, and McCain picked Senator Joe Lieberman, both of whom came from opposite parties as the Presidential nominees, then switched to Independents and endorsed Obama and McCain, respectively. This scenario seems unlikely, but then again, this election season has been pretty unpredictable....