Washington (CNN) Lincoln Chafee launched his Democratic presidential bid Wednesday on a platform of what he called "bold" ideas, but few are as bold as his proposal to switch to the metric system.

It's part of, as he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" in his first interview since announcing his bid, his emphasis on "becoming internationalist as a country."

"This is just one piece, as I said, of becoming internationalist as a country and getting away from that unilateralist approach, that muscular approach to the world, that I don't think is working in our best interests," he said.

Chafee added that it would be "good for our economy, bottom line."

During his announcement earlier Wednesday at George Mason University in Virginia, Chafee announced his intention to "wage peace," and also issued his call to switch measurement systems.

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