1. Chittenden County Senator and former State Auditor Ed Flanagan is definitely on the mend (it was good to see you, Ed).

2. “Jefferson’s Manual,” state-based Presidential Impeachment is still very much a hot topic evoking strong expressions of support, as well as some cold immobile stares.

3. If the Democrat-supported candidates win for US House and US Senate, our Washington delegation will have approximately one full head of hair between them.

4. Award recipient and Rutland Resolution Author Jeff Taylor has been a “troublemaker” for the Party before — having successfully challenged the Delegate selection process as discriminatory back in the mid seventies.

5. Rich Tarrant has a firm handshake (no, I don’t know WHAT he was doing there or why I had to be the first person he bumped into coming into the gathering).

6. If possible, you should try to avoid direct sunlight from the hours of 10 AM to 2 PM.

7. At the end of the day, actual Party designation is meaningless — it’s the issues and values that really matter to all the folks who call themselves Dems (according to VDP Chair Ian Carleton in his introduction of Bernie Sanders… undoubtedly there were many in the room who disagreed, but they would’ve looked pretty petty not applauding…)

8. Virtually every Democrat over 60 apparently used to be a “Goldwater Republican” (or was that a “Rockefeller Republican?”)

9. Peter Welch seems to read this blog, as a statement he made in introducing Gaye Symington (“Good policy IS ALWAYS good politics”) would seem to be a pointed smackdown of this post from a few weeks ago that I caught hell for. Coulda been a coincidental turn of phrase, but then again it’s a small state.

10. Regardless of lingering frustration from the left over impeachment, healthcare and other issues, this party is really surprisingly strong and united (which I wasn’t necessarily expecting to see, but it did my heart good). It should be a good election season.

…and that these sorts of big, coat-‘n-tie fundraisers are really not for me anymore (okay, so that was eleven…)

Chuck Kletecka, the last member of the Vermont Human Rights Commission appointed by Howard Dean, quit in protest of the Governor’s veto of the Gender Identity non-discrimination bill. The Governor wouldn’t really offer a coherent reason for his veto, making it obvious that it was simply done in deference to the Center For American Cultural Renewal/Vermont Renewal and Vermont’s religious right. The now all-Douglas-sock puppet Human Rights Commission is apparently the front of respectability for this scary outfit that you can read more about at this linked diary.

There seems to be some dispute as to who first came up with the notion to initiate the impeachment process of a sitting President at a state legislature, via the Jefferson’s Manual. Well, wonder no more, as it looks like the idea was first broached by… the Republicans. That’s right, if they hadn’t had the Congress on their side against Clinton, there was discussion of using Section 603 of the JM all the way back in ’97. Sort of puts Republican complaints on the process into the “methinks thou dost protest too much” column, eh? It’s also another sign to Dems-in-denial that it’s a tool very much in the Republican arsenal that they are ready, willing, and able to use when a Dem returns to power. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

If you haven’t seen it yet, go to Baruth’s piece about the clumsy mole sent by the Rainville campaign to tape record Peter Welch’s press conference. Get a load of the bumper stickers sported by this “stealth operative.” Heh.

Who needs Champ Anymore? iBrattleboro reports sightings of a wandering pack of naked men at 3 AM. It’s not the first report either, as another poster spotted them on bikes last October. A couple more sightings and maybe we can start mentioning it on Vermont tourist brochures.

Despite the rain, and competing events such as Bernie’s campaign kickoff and the Democratic Party fundraiser, 80 members of Vermont peace groups showed up to protest Laura Bush’s gala Republican event. Inside, the shindig may have raised as much as $150,000. Rainville: “I know that together we can send a Republican back to the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.”

Darren Allen, Vermont’s print media-to-blogosphere crossover darling is back at the Times Argus/Rutland Herald’s Hall Monitor. He’s got some good stuff that I’ll be talking about later today (I think).

Speaking of the Times Argus and Rutland Herald, I’m getting really annoyed that they still haven’t fixed their article links. Grumble.

…and remember, the GMD Lt Gov poll stays up only as long is takes me to get up Sunday morning, square away the kids, and get an uninterrupted 10 minutes on this machine. Cast your vote! It’s become quite the cyber-slugfest.