The annual pre-election Democratic gala known as the Autumn Harvest Rally was held Saturday night at the Old Labor Hall in Barre. Turnout was decent, with some exceptions.
There were a couple of empty spots in the horn of plenty: the absences of two sets of major players.
None of the “gang of four” Democratic gubernatorial primary candidates put in an appearance; and neither did incumbents State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding or Attorney General Bill Sorrell.
I raised the question recently as to why Peter Shumlin hasn’t asked his former rivals to help out in making appearances on his behalf across the state. It’s hard to see any downside to that as a strategy. And they all offered, even promised they would help.
Pride? Maybe. There’s some saying about pride being maintained at some cost … we hope it’s not at the cost of the election.
At the Harvest event I heard that Deb Markowitz had made an ‘amazing’ number of fundraising calls for Peter Shumlin. And I know that Matt Dunne hosted a house party that raised about $20k.
Still, none of them could put in an appearance? Help rally the troops? Present at least the image of a still-united front working against the economic disaster awaiting us if Dubie wins?
At least as troubling was the absence of Sorrell and Spaulding – not only at the Harvest Rally, but also in the donor ranks for the coordinated campaign, at least according to what I hear.
[continued on the flip]
Neither Spaulding nor Sorrell has a strong opponent, and apparently neither has felt any need to actually, you know, campaign for his elected position. Both are reasonably popular – although the unions are not liking Jeb much just now (here’s a more positive analysis).
Sorrell’s popularity is to my mind totally inexplicable. I mean, here’s a guy who thinks his job as attorney general (not surgeon general) is to work on childhood obesity; who argued against marriage equality (in the original Baker v. State case) in the state supreme court, and then just last spring denied it when he was in search of signatures for his nominating petition; and who has sat back and not lifted a finger to alleviate federal discrimination against legally married Vermonters.
Talk about your fair-weather ‘friends!’ These solidly entrenched politicos apparently show up only when they want something from the party, and presumably for their taxpayer-funded jobs. Heaven forbid they should actually contribute something to the party that helped them get where they are now. Something for the campaign finance kitty, something for the folks, something simple, like showing up.
Speaking of weather, I kept waiting for someone, maybe Patrick Leahy (who, btw, handed VDP chairwoman Judy Bevans his donor match check, as much as I’ve ever made in a year), to say, “We’re proud to be Vermont Democrats, come hail or high water!”
Nanuq — we talked about this a bit on Saturday but I have thought about it more since then. While I agree with you that it is disappointing the other constitutional officers were not at the event, and I agree that having the other primary candidates for governor at the event would have been a good photo op, what is far more important is what is happening on the ground. I can only comment with any direct information on Matt and his supporters, but I can tell you that what is most important is our working to get Matt’s voters to the polls for Peter. That began in earnest at the party Matt had at his farm. Yes, it raised an impressive amount of money, but more important, it brought over 200 avid supporters of Matt’s out and energized them for the general election (we don’t actually know how many were there, but there were 175 cars in the field — so “do the math”). Remember, Matt won Windsor and Orange Counties overwhelmingly in the primary. The Windsor and Orange County Democratic Committees sponsored the event, tapped their major donors one more time, and left with Matt’s ringing support for Peter echoing in their ears. On November 2 our bringing in Windsor and Orange counties decisively for Peter is what will be most important not who did or did not come on Saturday.
I googled Jeb Spaulding Treasurer this morning and after the official State Treasurer’s Office site, and a notice of his winning the Jesse Unruh Outstanding Service Award, there’s this:
His resume page is still available, but when I clicked on the “Home” button, I got a page-not-found message.
This has to be a new low in campaigning for a constitutional office – not even a working, accessible web site.
Sorrell at least has a working campaign website.
NanuqFC
“I didn’t vote for you, Tip O’Neill,” she said. “Why on earth not?” “Because you didn’t ask me to.” ~ Apocryphal
to deploy the other four primary candidates, individually, to the districts they carried or performed most strongly in, in order to GOTV. That’s how they could most effectively serve the goal of getting Peter elected.
we need the people who inspired that turnout to work their magic again!
The ‘gang of four’ is doing a lot more than they are getting credit for.
Bartlett and Markowitz (and Governor Kunin) created “Women for Shumlin”. They are actively fundraising and pounding the pavement for Peter. They are holding a “Women for Shumlin” rally in Burlington on October 24th.
I saw Bartlett at a function recently and she gave a great speech, making the case for Peter Shumlin. She’s working hard for Peter.
Dunne raising $20k for Peter is very significant.
These folks deserve a lot of credit. They went through a long and exhausting primary – and they are working to support Shumlin.
Should Paul Tencher be doing more to spread the word about what the Go4 are doing, including for down ticket races?