Anybody else think that Scudder’s latest TV ad is goofy? When you see him on the stump, he’s serious, and passionate, and can quote facts and figures about the failures of the Douglas regime.

But for a candidate for whom being taken seriously has been an uphill slog, that TV commercial is like “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

(Speaking of fantasy: The “Promise Scholarships” touted by Jimmy D. in his own commercial amount to indentured servitude — they don’t create the jobs graduates need, they just trap the kids here in burgerflippin’/liftline-attendant land until their debts are paid.)

Maybe Scudder’s media adviser thought something like, “We’ll take all the myths out there about Scudder and attribute them to Douglas, that ought to change a few minds!”

Myth one: alternative energy. The myth about those who favor seeking non-fossil-fuel and non-nuclear sources of energy is that we’ll end up just like the family in this campaign ad, with daughter trying to study by a flickering lamp while dad cycles furiously to generate enough electricity. Scudder says this is really Douglas’s fault because he has opposed wind power and sought to reduce the budget for Efficiency Vermont.

Myth two: property taxes. In this one, a woman in top hat wields a magic wand over her checkbook, trying to increase the value of her account so she can pay her property tax bill. Scudder suggests that higher property taxes are Douglas’s fault, which is the same charge Jimmy D. has thrown at him. The text says Douglas proposed a $22 million property tax increase.

Myth three: healthcare. Here there’s an older guy struggling with duct taping an apparent broken arm, presumably because he doesn’t have health insurance and must make do on his own.

Here’s the problem: the image that sticks with these mythic situations is Scudder’s, not Douglas’s.

If you haven’t seen the ad on TV, check it out at Scudder’s website: http://www.scudderpa…. You need to have a “Flash 8” player or better (you can download it from Adobe for a free 30-day trial) to play the thing.

NanuqFC

[Originally published in the Vermont Journal… nobody gets that the title is a riff on Conason’s “The Hunting of the President,” so it was changed in print, but I’m hoping all the good ol’ blog readers will get it. It did occur to me that this piece could be read to be encouraging complacence, which is NOT my intent. You’ll note Bartlett is on my local target list in the diary below…]

The Vermont GOP is AWOL on state legislative elections this year, leaving many of their candidates to fend for themselves. Why is hard to say. With county committees forced to put want ads for candidates on neighborhood bulletin boards and an astonishing number of state Senate and House seats simply going uncontested, Republican Chair Jim Barnett and company seem exclusively focused on the statewide elections.

Almost.

It’s not quite accurate to say the state GOP has no state Senate operation. It’s just that the state Senate operation seems for all the world to have only one target they really care about – their favorite Senator, Susan Bartlett of Lamoille County.

Nobody drives the Republicans crazy like Bartlett. She’s the sole Senator from a County they think should be theirs. And it’s always a battleground. Election after election, the Lamoille Senate contest is always the Thunderdome of Vermont politics, and time after time, when two candidates enter, it is always Bartlett who leaves, and her opponent who is carted off on a political stretcher.

This alone would be enough to make her a perennial target of GOP ire, but somehow she always finds a way to rub it in by finding a way to tie one hand behind her back as she goes into every fight, yet still come out on top in November.

She survived her Act 60 vote in the last county where that should have been possible. When then Senate President Pro-Tem Peter Shumlin decided to run for Lieutenant Governor, it was Bartlett who was left with the task of leading the Senate Democrats’ election operation, taking on responsibility for every other Democratic Senate candidacy in the state in addition to her own. Such divided attention and energy again smelled like blood in the water to circling Republican sharks, but Bartlett wasn’t merely victorious, she expanded the Democratic Senate caucus into an impenetrable supermajority.

However, that’s not the worst of it. Bartlett isn’t just any thorn in their side; she is also among the most powerful and effective senators in Vermont.

As Chair of Appropriations, Bartlett brings a level of influence to benefit her Lamoille constituents that is the envy of the state. While the last two President Pro Tems have had their eyes on higher office, Bartlett has held a steady and forceful hand on budgets and policy, and all the while having little tolerance for partisan posturing. Bartlett is often the first to call nonsense like it is, and the Republicans just hate that.

It’s likely that in a year the GOP doesn’t seem to care about the state Senate, that the Governor himself pulled rank to have the machine turned on her – and that includes him personally campaigning against her, as well as the appearance of some nasty campaign attacks. Bartlett has enraged the Governor by, among other things, casually and definitively showing his prized “promise scholarship” program to be an unfunded gimmick designed for headlines and utterly meaningless as policy. When Douglas petulantly dubbed Bartlett’s counterproposal “mouse meat,” he only made himself look worse in comparison.

So this time around, it’s the same old story. The mortal injury du jour was supposed to be Bartlett’s departure to a conference while final negotiations for closing the legislative session were underway. What an opportunity. The GOP finally has something they can spin into an early political retirement for their favorite nemesis.

Gimme a break.

Another nail biter, another razor thin margin, another long Election Night, and another term for one of the most effective senators in the state.

See you in Montpelier in January, Susan…

So Martha the mouth has decided that she has a patent or is it trade mark or is it a copyright on the name Rainville and woe be those who are named Rainville who do anything to cross our war criminal as candidate. 

The Republicans are not just desperate but have placed themselves out of civil society.  Rush’s attach on Michael J. Fox is an outrage.

You know the desperate Tories in Canada in 1993, knowing they were about to lose power in a landslide against them also went to the very dark side running an ad against challenging LIberal Leader Jean Chretian.  The ad?  A phony person in the street set of interviews all of whom expressed embarrassment should Canada have a Prime Minister who looked like Jean Chretian. 

I’m not making this up.  The result was a total defeat of the party going from a comfortable majority in the House of Commons of 170 seats to 2.  Two.  TWO.

So let’s let the Reps have a seat in stinking Mississippi and another in some other racist swamp. 

Okay, so I’m listening to the news, reading the papers, browsing the blogs, and scan an item about how Ned Lamont made a fortune and is self-funding his campaign, followed by a number that suggests he’s doing it to an even larger degree than Rich Tarrant.

So none of us likes Rich T. He’s slimy (or at least his media advisors are, and he agreed to run the distorting ads — and did you notice how they’ve disappeared from the airwaves, replaced by golden-glow grandpa Rich with the kids and 35 years of healthcare “experience”?). He really doesn’t have a message, and his primary residence is really in Florida, where he’ll fit in quite nicely as a slezoid R over-endowed with money.

And we at least “sort of” like Ned Lamont because he drove DINO Joe Lieberman off the party’s ballot line by calling him on his

support for the war, among other Republican-sponsored horrors.

So help me out here … Richie T. is trying to buy a Vermont Senate seat, but Ned Lamont isn’t trying to buy a Connecticut one? Is the only difference the party for which each is running?

And last time I heard, Neddie is going to get his ass whupped because being off the Democratic ballot line has freed up Joltin’ Joementum Lieberman to appeal to his natural constituency: rich white Republicans, most of whom will find themselves voting “Independent” for the first time in their political lives.

NanuqFC

Marine Corps Sgt. Liam Madden of Rockingham is seriously sticking his neck out by speaking out against the war, and trying to protect himself by invoking whistleblower protection. From Christian at the Vermont Guardian:

“The real grievances are if democracy is our goal than I believe we are going about it all wrong. The occupation is perpetuating more violence and I think it is the biggest de-stabilizing thing we can do to the Middle East. It’s costing way too many human lives — Iraqi civilians and American service member lives — and brings us no benefits,” Madden said. “The only people who benefit in my eyes are corporations like Halliburton. I don’t think that the war is being paid for in the right manner, and I think that if people want to
support the troops then they should support us coming home.”

Madden serves in the U.S. Marine Corps and is stationed in Quantico,

This is a brave, honorable Marine, who is doing his state, his country and the corps proud, as far as I’m concerned. To date, nearly 350 servicemen and women have joined Madden in filing an appeal of redress on the issue. And the number is growing.

Vermont taxpayer funded GOP propoganda is back on the air. Barre’s WSNO (right wing talk radio) was down for a bit, but sadly returned yesterday during the Sean Hannity Show broadcast. As we previously reported, one of the sponsors of the Sean Hannity Show is the Barre Technical Center. That means tax money from the area school districts that send students there, as well as statewide via the Education Fund. Nice, huh?

Did Martha Rainville harass supporters of Peter Welch in Franklin County because they happened to share her last name and held an event for Welch? That’s what Philip is reporting. Pretty damn pathetic and petty, if true.

( – promoted by odum)

This is it people. If you’re not signed up for a lit drop, visibility, get-out-the-vote or canvass shift, you better have a really good reason (such as you’re immobile due to health reasons or are out of the country for the next week-and-a-half).

I haven’t talked about the local races nearly as much as I wanted to, because I have only limited time for this blogging thing, and there has been so much to get to. So belatedly, I’m going to try to make amends.

A lot of good Dem candidates in local House and Senate races are facing tough challenges. Many are right on the edge in campaigns that could go either way. Now I wouldn’t presume to say that any campaigns are more important than any others, but the following folks are really riding the edge of victory/defeat, and when you consider how to spend your volunteer time in the final push, keep these folks in the front of your mind when deciding how to allot your time. I’ve included contact numbers you can call to offer your help (all on the flip)

Diane Lanpher (Addison-3: Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Vergennes, Waltham) 877-2230. This is a crazy crazy race we’ve covered here before, and with a none-too-progressive Progressive in the mix, it’s truly wide open. Some butt-busting could make the difference.

Chris Bray (Addison-5: Bridport, New Haven, Weybridge) 453-3444. This district totally should be ours.

Kristy Spengler and Bud Meyers (Chitenden 7-2: Colchester), 864-6567 and 879-3360 respectively.

Gary Gilbert (Franklin-1: Fairfax, Georgia) 849-6333.

Peter Peltz, Shap Smith {Lamoille-Washington-1: Worcester, Woodbury, Elmore, Morrisville), 472-6524 and 888-9214 respectively.

Mitch Pearl (Rutland-7: Brandon) 247-8175. Come on…how cool would it be to take Joe Acinapura’s seat?

Paul Poirier (Washington 3-1: Barre City) 476-7870. One time Dem superstar Paul Poirier attempts a comeback in a city that has a hard time letting go of the civil union battle. This one is a true mystery. Valliere could win in a rout. Poirier could win in a rout. It could be a squeaker. Who the hell knows?

John Moran (Windham-Bennington-1: Dover, Readsboro, Searsburg, Somerset, Stamford, Wardsboro) 896-9408. A former county chair, John’s tried this in the past unsuccessfully, but word is he’s running a much stronger campaign than ever before.

Tom Buchanan (Windham-Bennington-Windsor-1:Jamaica, Londonderry, Stratton, Weston, Winhall) 824-4248.

Rep. Kathy Pellett (Windsor 1-1: Andover, Baltimore, Chester, Springfield) 875-1372. A tough, tough re-election fight in a very important district.

Mark Mitchell (Windsor 6-1: Barnard, Hartford, Pomfret) 234-9188.

Hilda Ojibway (Windsor 6-2: Hartford) 296-2669. Hilda is trying to replace retiring Rep. Lynn Bohi. This is a swing district if ever there was one, but Lynn took it (and took it back after losing it) with pure hard work and smart campaigning. There are no corners than can be cut in this district.

Rep. Rozo McLaughlin (Windsor-Orange-1:). Rozo is dealing with serious illness. She’s also one of the toughest people you’ll ever meet, still, she needs help with the visibility and footwork that she can’t do right now. Contact Linda Weiss at 439-5280 to help out.

…and frequent GMD contributor Ed Weissman (Bennington-Rutland-1 : Dorset, Danby, Mt. Tabor, Peru, Landgrove), 867-0269, is facing a serious challenge in trying to wrest this district out of GOP hands. Give him a hand.

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Senators Sara Kittell (827-3274) & Don Collins (868-7975) in Franklin County. This one will alwys be tough, but with Alan Parent dumping in unprecedented amounts of money into advertising (TV, even), this is tougher than usual.

Sen. Susan Bartlett (888-5591) in Lamoille – although she won handily last time, that was likely n anomaly. This is another perpetual battleground county, and there is nobody in the state that the Jims (Barnett and Douglas) want to take out more.

And in Rutland County, both Bill Carris (438-5391) and Hope Blucher (779-2246) have real shots (and wouldn’t it be nice to take out Wendy Wilton?).

In my home county of Washington, even though Democratic Senator Ann Cummings should be re-elected handily, the conventional wisdom is generally that Republicans Doyle and Scott are undefeatable, but the fact is that the numbers don’t bear that out. Former Republican Attorney General Kim Cheney (223-3181) always cuts it painfully close, and former Plainfield State Rep. Donny Osman (479-0819, or leave a note here for JD) is running an energetic and innovative campaign. If there’s going to be a surprise Dem pickup, it could happen right here.

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I left out a bunch. Jump in and tell me who I should’ve included on the list. But most importantly, make some time for these folks in the next week-and-a-half. Let’s see about veto-proofing that majority in the event of a Douglas re-election.