Politics

Conan O’Brien starts campaign to get Lincoln Chafee to 1 percent

Conan O’Briens new campaign: “Let’s Get Lincoln Chafee to 1 Percent!’’ Screenshot/Youtube

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa @NikDeCostaKlipa

August 20, 2015

1 minute to read

Conan O’Brien wants to help out Lincoln Chafee.

Upon discovering that Chafee, the struggling Democratic presidential candidate, had literally zero supporters in a recent poll, the Brookline-born talk show host started his own campaign Wednesday night: “Let’s Get Lincoln Chafee to 1 Percent!’’

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“Let’s be honest, I’m not trying to get him elected,’’ O’Brien said. “In fact, I’m personally not going to vote for him, but I think we should at least get him on the board, so he’s not humiliated. It seems like the nice thing to do.’’

After listing Chafee’s support for affirmative action, same-sex marriage, decriminalizing marijuana, and — of course — adopting the metric system as reasons to back the former Rhode Island governor and senator, O’Brien introduced rock musicians Aimee Man and Ted Leo to perform a “brand-new, unsolicited campaign song’’ for the Chafee campaign, played to the tune of Fine Young Cannibals’ 1989 song “She Drives Me Crazy.’’

In an email, Chafee said he’d be glad to return the favor to O’Brien.

“I want to thank Conan for the attention!’’ Chafee told Boston.com. “He’s a good sport and I would definitely come on his show to help his ratings!’’

O’Brien’s late-night TBS show hasn’t exactly been topping the charts, either.