2016 Candidate Stymied by Facebook Password

Lincoln Chafee, a former governor and senator of Rhode Island, launches his bid for the Democratic nomination this evening, and clearly everything will have to go his way if he hopes to pull an upset. Which is why this Facebook post from his wife, spotted by an editor at National Journal, doesn't bode well: “Does anybody from my Husband's staff remember his FB page access?” Yes, it's authentic, reports Bloomberg. Stephanie Chafee is looking for anyone who recalls how to log in to the page Chafee used as governor, so it can be merged with his 2016 presidential page. It seems the former is getting more traffic.

Once the campaign gets past that hurdle, Chafee will have to work on name recognition. NPR helps with a primer on his political career, observing that "it is not often that a person can be said to have personally ended an era, but Chafee may well be remembered as the last liberal Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate." Chafee was originally a Republican before becoming an independent and, finally, a Democrat. Even while with the GOP, however, he consistently ranked less conservative than even some Democrats, thanks to his support of gay marriage, abortion rights, a higher minimum wage, and more taxes on the rich. (As for the missing password, someday Chafee might be able to use his brainwaves instead.)