Steve Laffey says U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole sabotaged his campaign.

In his new book, "Primary Mistake," the former candidate in the Rhode Island Senate Republican primary argues that Dole undercut his challenge to Sen. Lincoln Chafee.

He says Dole, then chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the group's executive director, Mark Stephens, a Raleigh political consultant, tried to talk him out of running.

In a meeting in Washington, D.C., in 2005, he says they tried to convince him to run for lieutenant governor instead, but he thought the position has no responsibilities.

What about "I don't want to ride around on a bicycle waiting for the governor to die" did they not understand the first time around?

Laffey lost his challenge to Chafee, who lost the general election.

A short excerpt after the jump.

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