Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee says he’s not going anywhere, despite anemic poll and fundraising numbers.
The former Rhode Island governor and U.S. senator told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Wednesday he is motivated to stay in the presidential race as a candidate who wants to end war in the Middle East.
“I wanna be a voice for prosperity, for peace,” Chafee said.
Chafee acknowledged he raised $30,000 since joining the race in June, but he’s OK with the low figures.
“That’s expected,” Chafee said. “I’m not going to raise a lot of money, but I have a budget.”
He also has received poor marks for his performance in the CNN Facebook Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night, including an answer in which he explained his 1999 Senate vote to repeal the Glass-Steagall act as coming because “I had just arrived in the Senate.”
Chafee on Wednesday blamed his poor performance on his limited speaking time. He spoke for a total of nine minutes in the two-hour debate.
“I’m certainly unpleased with the time allocated,” he said Wednesday.
When pushed to discuss what it would take for him to drop out of the race, Chafee said that he would stay in it “as far as I can continue to raise these issues.”
“The establishment just does not want to hear an anti-war voice,” Chafee said. “And that motivates me even more to continue this campaign.” The Middle East is particularly important to him. “Something’s going on with what’s happening in the Middle East and we need to fix it.”
Chafee polled at less than 0.5% percent in a CBS News poll released Sunday.