In America, it is still possible to win for Governor as an independent. The list of independent Governors includes: Angus King for Maine, Walter Hickel for Alaska, Jesse Ventura for Minnesota, and Lowell Weicker for Connecticut.

Now, former United States Senator Lincoln Chafee has filed papers to run for Governor of Rhode Island in 2010. Chafee was a Republican, but switched to independent after losing his re-election bid for Senate in 2006.

There is an excellent article at CQ Politics that is excerpted below. You can go to the rest of the article for details on Chafee’s financial situation and potential opponents in the race.

(excerpt from) CQ Politics
Former Sen. Chafee Exploring Run for Rhode Island Governor
by Emma Dumain  / April 6, 2009

Strongly Democratic Rhode Island also has a lot of unaffiliated voters, so a left-leaning independent candidate might have a shot at the governorship. At least that’s the theory that Lincoln Chafee is getting ready to test.

As first reported today by the Providence Journal, Chafee, a former Republican senator who was unseated in 2006 by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse has formed an “exploratory campaign” for the race to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Donald L. Carcieri.

According to a statement issued this morning, “Chafee will spend the next several months meeting with advisers and supporters putting together a plan that will lay the groundwork for an Independent campaign for governor in 2010.”

A politician who more often than not sided with Democrats on social issues like abortion and gay rights, and was the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq War, Chafee left the Republican Party several months after his defeat.

“It’s not my party anymore,” he said at the time. “There’s been a gradual depravation of the issues the party should be strong on.” He has since been a distinguished visiting fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies…