Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: It's starting to look like the end of the line for Linc Chafee

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' RI-Gov: "Path to victory" is a phrase we use a lot around here, as in, does candidate X in race Y have any remotely plausible way of earning that brass ring? When you take a look at independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee's new poll numbers from PPP, though, you'll be hard-pressed to find one. Chafee, a former Republican, benefitted from a split field in 2010, where he was very probably to the left of an unlikable Democratic nominee and barely edged out the GOP candidate.

Now, like many other governors nationwide, Chafee's seen his job ratings drop precipitously (down to 59 percent disapproving and just 33 percent approving), thanks in part to years of a challenging economy, stubbornly high unemployment, and budget cuts'in other words, classic gubernatorial malaise. A man without a home, he's openly talked about joining the Democratic Party, but really, he's got nowhere to go. Tom Jensen summarizes:

' In four different scenarios testing four candidates'either Gina Raimondo or Angel Taveras on the Democratic side, either Brendan Doherty or Allan Fung on the Republican side, Chafee running as an independent, and Moderate Party candidate Ken Block'Chafee finishes third in every single one, running behind both the Democratic and Republican candidates.

' In two scenarios testing Chafee as the Democratic candidate, he finishes second, running 4 points behind the Republican candidates we tested, Brendan Doherty and Allan Fung.

' It would be difficult for Chafee to become the Democratic candidate anyway though. 35% of Democratic primary voters want Gina Raimondo to be their candidate next year to just 22% for Chafee, 19% for Angel Taveras, and 11% for Ernie Almonte.

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