PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In an interview published this week by Esquire Magazine, former Rhode Island Governor and U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee acknowledges he probably should not have made the "metrics system" a top plank in his quixotic run for president of the United States.

"My wife said, no, it will be misunderstood. And she was right,'' he said.

The Esquire story was headlined: "The Regrets of Lincoln Chafee, Failed Presidential Candidate: Dispatches from his 'sabbatical year.' "

"Looking back on the primary, are there things you wish you did better?'' the former Republican U.S. Senator who was elected governor as an independent and then became a Democrat was asked.

His answer: "I guess the big mistake — I went back and forth on including the metric system angle. I was just crossing my fingers there would be some intellectual approach to the various proposals I put out in my announcement speech, which kind of covered the gamut, from ending capital punishment, to bringing Edward Snowden home."

"Unfortunately, my crossed fingers didn't work, and it just turned into more of a joke about metric, not 'let's look at the bigger picture.'"

In his view, his presidential bid fell victim to "a trend. There's just less of a Walter Cronkite, I call it, approach to the news. It's entertainment. Donald Trump, early on, said: I'm just going to push every possible emotional button I can. I don't care!' And he crushed the nomination.''

Chafee was also asked about his own less-than-stellar performance in a televised debate among the Democratic presidential contenders.

"I knew going on that, again, it's about entertainment and it was going to be about Secretary [Hillary] Clinton and Senator [Bernie] Sanders," Chafee said. "But I didn't expect the moderator [Anderson Cooper] to interrupt me so much and give me so little time. If I had to do it over again I would've engaged more and said, 'I didn't come here to debate five people, I came to debate these four people!'"

"I've watched the tape a couple times. I couldn't get a rhythm going without any time, and without being interrupted in my answers.''

Chafee withdrew from the presidential race on Oct. 23, just 10 days after that debate.