What a difference a few weeks make. The AP's Ray Henry reported the following earlier today:

The head of a troubled Rhode Island school that fired all its teachers has agreed to use a mediator in upcoming negotiations with the teachers' union.

The gubernatorial campaign of Lincoln Chafee is touting these findings from Rasmussen Reports. Noteworthy is the smaller amount of undecideds than in a recent Brown University poll.

The departure from office next January of Governor Carcieri may change the outlook for same-sex marriage in Rhode Island, as demonstrated by an event this week at the State House rotunda:

Rhode Island gubernatorial candidates from across the political spectrum will pledge their support for marriage equality at a rally convened by Marriage Equality Rhode Island [at 4 pm] on March 3, 2010.

This ample campaign season will allow for a lot of interaction with candidates, and here are two events of note this week:

-- Drinking Liberally resumes its 2010 candidate series tomorrow night when First Congressional District hopeful Bill Lynch appears at the Wild Colonial (8 pm). Democratic rival David Cicilline is slated to make a subsequent appearance.

Linc Chafee in the Sunday New York Times with an op-ed piece criticizing both major parties for a lack of leadership, while touting the need for centrist pols running as independents. Chafee writes about the gridlock in the Senate and the problems in getting anything done in Washington.

Update, 2:31 pm. Byrd's mixed politics.

State House News Service reports that Byrd, after working for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, has contributed to Patrick's current Republican rival, Charlie Baker. And liberal labor activist Patrick Crowley see Byrd's affiliation with some conservative campaigns as a sign that the Moderate Party is less than moderate.

Talk about one degree of separation in Little Rhody: fundraising consultant Amy Gabarra -- who helped propel gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio to his steady frontrunning fundraising totals -- has signed on to help raise campaign cash for the Congressional campaign of Bill Lynch, the brother of Caprio's Democratic primary rival, Patrick Lynch.

Frank Caprio's gubernatorial campaign is claiming what it calls first Democratic endorsement of the 2010 election season. It sent along the following, via e-mail:

As expected, the January 2011 departure of Governor Carcieri -- and Gordon Fox's anticipated move this week into the speakership -- will change the dynamic around long-stalled gay marriage legislation in Rhode Island. Here's further evidence, via Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD):

The complicated dynamic in Rhode Island's 2010 governor's race -- with Democratic, Republican, independent, and Moderate candidates -- makes more significant the matter of just who's running for the Mods. Under the right circumstances, the Mod candidate might draw from some combination of the other entrants in the race.