Chafee: Moderates will help Obama in 2012

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee Tuesday told the Democratic National Convention he represents Americans who helped Barack Obama in 2008: moderates.

"There are a lot of us, and we will, once again, help elect Barack Obama president of the United States," Chafee told convention participants, including Vice President Joe Biden, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C.

At the core, moderates represent both conservative and liberal schools of thought "in the best sense of the word," said Chafee, who once was a Republican but now is an independent.

Today's Republicans "hijacked the term [conservative], but there really is nothing conservative about today's Republican Party," Chafee said.

But in Obama, moderates found a champion for principles they hold dear, such as environmental stewardship, personal liberty, deliberation before entering military offensives, using government tools to help Americans help themselves and fiscal responsibility.

That lack of fiscal responsibility "is what made me leave my old party" in 2007, Chafee said.

These values are neither Democrat nor Republican, the governor said. "They're American values."

"But because they have no place in today's Republican Party," Chafee said, "neither do I and neither do millions like me."