Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee today announced the formulation of an exploratory committee for a 2010 campaign for governor. 

In a news release, Chafee says the, ``time has come to stop the political bickering and start using our collective expertise to make the kinds of bold decisions that will position Rhode Island as a model of economic, civic and social success, not a state in decline.''

Chafee, 56, is a former Warwick city councilman and mayor and served in the U.S. Senate until his 2006 defeat at the hands of Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. 

Since he left the Senate, Chafee has been a visiting fellow at Brown University's Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies. Chafee also announced today that James V. DeRentis of Providence will be manager of his exploratory campaign. DeRentis recently left his job as executive vice-president at Bank Rhode Island, where he had worked since 1996.

WRNI's On Politics had reported on March 26 that Chafee was about to move forward with his gubernatorial campaign and that DeRentis was reportedly in line for a prominent role.