Lincoln Chafee, who was elected to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island as a Republican in 2000 and who was defeated for re-election in 2006, changed his registration from “Republican” to “Independent” back in June or July 2007. No one noticed until a few days ago. Here is one article about the reasons for his action. This year has seen at least three news-worthy Republicans change their registration from “Republican” to either independent voter status, or to a minor party; the others are Mayor Michael Bloomberg and John Frohnmayer.