I was able to listen in on today’s (09/12/08) gubernatorial debate held at the Tunbridge Fair and hosted by WDEV/Mark Johnson Show. I wasn’t able to listen from start to finish, but I did hear enough to know I’m going to keep supporting Pollina.

What I heard told me that with a Douglas or Symington administration there will be no fundamental change in the philosophy that guides our state government. Both, it seems, will be happy to continue working with the same institutions and the same rules with Symington at best offering the same old incremental change that has resulted in no change.

On the other hand Pollina offers ideas that will result in a fundamental change in how our state government views itself and we view the same. This is true even if only one, or a substantial portion of only one, of Pollina’s proposals on economics, housing, roads and bridges, health care or energy were to come to fruition.

For example in the area of renewable energy development Pollina talked about providing resources, assistance and guidance from the state level while leaving the actual specific decisions to more local levels. In health care Pollina was the only one to draw a distinction between our insurance driven health care industry and a health care system. On roads and bridges Pollina was the only one who talked about ways to raise more money to do what we all seem to acknowledge needs to be done.

I gave the Pollina campaign some cash way back at the beginning, and after hitting the ‘save’ button here I’m off to another donation for the general campaign.

Simple fact: a vote for Douglas or Symington is a vote for more of the same with only a few specifics being different. A vote for Pollina is, in my opinion, a vote for fundamental change.

And it CAN be Governor Pollina if enough people vote for him.

Metaphor time. What you’re looking at is a standard configuration for connecting a Local Access Network to the Internet. See all the happy servers on one end, the internet on the other, and a firewall in between. The firewall, of course, prevents unwanted intrusion by acting as gatekeeper for the “ports” that allow information to flow back and forth between the two. Generally, they are programmed to block virtually any passage through these ports, except for a few key services delivering “safe” sorts of information, and allowing for “safe” interaction. In this analogy, the firewall is the traditional media, the servers are all us happy voters sitting at home, and the internet is the Symington campaign – or for that matter, the Parker campaign or the Clavelle campaign. Unlike internet firewalls, though, we don’t have access to the filters, so we’re stuck with it as is. And the result is a skewed picture of what’s really going on. Many weeks back, I was among those wondering where the Symington campaign was. They started late, but the realities of the election make no accommodations for such inconveniences. Nowadays, I haven’t been joining in those calls because I check their website every day and I know what they’re doing. And it would surprise a lot of people, I suspect, to see just how much is going on.

From the Symington website:

9-11  Education Focus of Debate (Free Press)

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9-11  Symington Unveils New Education Plan (VT Press Bureau)

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9-10 Symington Program will Send More Kids to College

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9-9  Democratic Governors Association Congratulates Symington

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9-9  Douglas More Concerned with PR than Truth (Reformer)

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9-8 Symington Calls on Douglas to Pull His Ads (VPR)

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Burlington-DFA Endorses Symington!

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9-5 Dems Hit Douglas on Job Cuts (VPR)

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9-5  Bridge Closure More Proof of Douglas’ Failures

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9-5  Debate Rages on Deceptive E-Mails (AP)

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9-4  Symington on Deceptive Douglas E-Mails

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9-3  Telecom Goals Stir Debate (VT Press Bureau)

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9-2 Symington Stresses Importance of Labor Day (Politicker)

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9-1  Symington on Importance of Labor Day

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8-29  Democrats Rally for Obama and Symington (WCAX)

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8-28  Budget Cuts Approved; Symington Criticizes Douglas for Preserving PR Jobs (AP)

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8-27  Douglas Wrong to Choose Public Relations Over Public Services

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8-26 “She’s for Symington” Will Help Campaign Spread Message of Change

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8-25 Symington Maintains Strong Fundraising Pace

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8-24 Symington in Denver for Convention (WCAX)

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8-22  Symington Warns of Worsening Budget Problem; Says Douglas Must Offer Long Term Plan (AP)

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8-21 Symington Says Douglas Must Level with Vermonters on Potential $100 million Deficit

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8-21 Symington Challenges Accuracy of Douglas Ads (Free Press)

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8-20 Symington Launches “Fact Check” Project; Calls on Douglas to Cease making False Claims

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8-19  Wind Energy Proposal Should Be Addressed (Free Press)

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8-18  Symington Praised for Determination (Free Press)

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8-14  Symington Offers Offender Plan (Vermont Press Bureau)

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8-13  Symington Releases Five-Point Plan on Sex Crimes

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8-11  Douglas Tricks Press and Public with Distractions (Reformer)

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8-10 Symington Makes Strong Case for Wind (Rutland Herald)

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8-7  Symington Says Wind is Energy Answer (Rutland Herald)

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8-6  Symington Calls for 20% Wind Power in Ten Years

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8-5 Symington Says Douglas Has Power to Staff Sex Crimes Units and Should Do So Immediately

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8-4 Symington Releases Radio Ad on New Energy Ideas

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7-31  Symington Sets Strong Fundraising Pace

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7-29 Douglas Uses Outrageous Tactics (Free Press)

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7-29  Douglas’ Motives Are Questionable (Free Press)

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7-28  Douglas Wrong to Saddle Vermonters with More Debt

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7-28  Douglas Shuts “Eyes and Ears” of Vermonters Out Of Vermont Yankee (Brattleboro Reformer)

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7-24  Symington on the Issues (Manchester Journal)

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7-21  Symington Petitions Show Broad Support

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7-21  Governors Race Kickoff Debate Proves Feisty (VT Press Bureau)

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7-18  Politicking A Tragedy (Brattleboro Reformer)

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7-17  Tough Questions From Symington (The Valley News)

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7-15  Symington Calls Douglas to Task in Bennett Case (VPR/AP)

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7-14 Symington Calls For Investigation of Jacques Early Release

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7-13 Douglas Not Realistic About Job Cuts

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7-11  Symington on Leak in VT Yankee Cooling System

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7-10 Symington Announces Roadmap To Energy Independence

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7-8  Symington Says Douglas Moving Slowly on Weatherization (VPR)

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7-7  Jim Does NOT Equal Jobs (Free Press)

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7/6  Douglas Takes Credit He Doesn’t Deserve (Free Press)

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7/3 Symington Works for Positive Social Change (Politicker)

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7/2 Symington Slams Douglas at Forum (Brattleboro Reformer)

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6/30 Symington Calls for Debates in All 14 Counties

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6/27 Strike Three for Douglas on Lake Clean-up

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6/27  Douglas, Symington Spar Over Property Taxes

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6/26  Douglas Blame Shift on Property Taxes Won’t Work

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6/25 Gubernatorial Candidates See Different Reasons for Layoffs – Free Press

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6/24 Symington on IBM Job Cuts

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6/20  Symington Statement on Taylor Street Bridge, Montpelier

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6/19 Symington Statement on Douglas Re-election Campaign

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6/12 Symington Counters Douglas on Efficiency Plan – VPR

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6/18 Douglas Launches Campaign –  Associated Press

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6/13  Symington on the stump – Times Argus

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6/12 RELEASE: Symington Calls for Emergency Meeting of Joint Fiscal Committee

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6/12 Statement from House Speaker Gaye Symington

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6/12  Symington’s “Shift Vermont Into Gear” Campaign Comes to Thunder Road

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6/5  Symington Supports Obama

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6/4   After Six Years Lake Champlain Clean-Up is Stuck in Neutral

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5/31  Democrat Gaye Symington Wraps Up Tour WCAX

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Three-way race raises prospect of lawmakers picking governor

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Speaker Symington emphasizes jobs, energy in her run for governor

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Gubernatorial frontrunners making rounds

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Frustrations make way to campaign trail

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Symington campaign strategy: Hold Douglas accountable for his record

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Press releases almost every day, and a variety of them. From reactive tidbits to proactive policy announcements. Yet, even others on the left are oft heard to refer to Pollina as the “only candidate talking about issues,” which is nonsense. Like them or hate them, Symington has more specific programmatic proposals than any of the candidates.

The problem is what the problem always is – the information is not breaching the media firewall.

And when something does get through, you never know what it’ll be. Barely a mention of Symington’s energy plan proposals, but plenty of ink this week on her plan to help more kids afford college. Mainly, though, it’s that very little gets through.

Why? Part of its simple personpower. Again, the ranks of the political press corps are depleted. Also, as we know, the press has in the past been inclined to protect Jim Douglas, and although they’ve come a long way from the dark days of AP’s Chris Graff, the Freeps editorial, and Marselis Parsons setting the bar for the whole lot of them, we’re not completely beyond that.

Also, a lot of the political reporters respond to what they find interesting – and a lot of times, as with a lot of us, dry policy stuff kind of bounces off.

The thing is, when the reporters just let themselves give in to that impulse and allow things to bounce off that they find boring, it feeds a narrative – an impression – that Symington isn’t doing anything.

As I said, this is nothing new. And as I said two years ago, the most comprehensive way to confront it is to start the campaign early and build a movement-style, self-sufficent ground game community by community. That’s been our strength in the past, and we’ve forgotten that, even as we’ve seen it in rather dramatic play with the Obama campaign and Dean’s amazing surge-from-nowhere before that. Building a grassroots movement does two things: it makes the movement the story, rather than the policy checklist (reporters dig that), but it also builds the candidate into a credible threat – and the press loves a horserace. A lot of the lack of coverage reflects the fact that the press decided a long time ago that Symington can’t win (again, something they do every year) so they find her boring. A self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one.

But by starting so late, Symington had no chance of that. Which means the way she can break the logjam in the coming weeks is to keep doing what they’re doing (just to break even and keep from losing ground) and try to break into the news cycles in creative ways. I agree with the poster who said there should have been a press conference AT the closed Richmond bridge right away. Supportive groups can also make news (news that the press will find more intersting than campaign press releases), and when they do, Symington should be right there. VSEA’s recent Douglas-administration email disclosures, for example.

And new media can help – but only so much (and not that much in Vermont – at least not yet). The problem is, blogs and new media are still largely dependent on that firewall. Oh, sure – we do our own amateur “journalism” sometimes (Nate’s bridge video, for example), but for the most part, we’re stuck with what gets through that filter as well. To continue the analogy, here’s another image:

Consider GMD to be in “Server A” in the DMZ.

But the big way you break through the conversation at this point is paid media – which also buys some limited earned media as well. There’s probably still time for targeted media buys, but the problem here is money – they cost a lot, and Symington isn’t raising any. Honestly, I’m not sure why I haven’t been receiving an email ask every week from Symington. I’m not even sure if I’ve received one, frankly.

One thing (and again, its getting kind of late for this) that can be effective is a menu-based fundraising strategy. If you need a commercial, crank out the web ads (which can be done in house) on a regular basis to get people coming to your website. Then, if you need money for a media buy – put the professionally developed ad on the web (and linked via email) and ask people to contribute specifically to get the ad up and on the air. It’s a good way to involve your supporters in a tangible way and it can excite your supporters, as well as give them some reassurance that things are happening at the HQ.

Clearly, there’s a need for creativity, as – at this point – the odds are still long, but its far from a done deal (especially – especially – when you remember that legislative option if Douglas doesn’t reach that 50% threshold…).

The following comes from something I received from a regular reader; a forwarded email from a former business associate of his wife’s who moved to Alaska with his family from Vermont about two years ago. Apparently a lot of folks back here in Vermont have been asking this ex-Vermonter-current-Alaskan his opinion of Sarah Palin, and this is his response.

It’s not what you’d expect. Much of it is very positive (and he’s clearly not a GMD style progressive, especially given his “PS” at the bottom), but the writer leaves no question as to how he stands on the ticket (I’ve removed all but the first name of the author).

Most of the letter is below the fold. Interesting stuff.

Greetings from Palin Country, where all the women are pro-life, the men wear

goatees and all the teenagers are above birth control.

I’ve received quite a few emails asking about Gov. Palin. Some of the below

you may have already read but here’s my local take.

Sarah is a smart, tough gal.  She’s not to be underestimated and will do

very well staying on message.   She’s not afraid to buck convention, has had

famous battles with the AK GOP chair and has come out against Sen. Stevens

(more on this later) and Rep. Young, telling them to come clean with the

public.  I believe she is focused on putting people first and is fairly

pragmatic in getting the job done.   Her approval ratings are in the

nineties.  The Anchorage Daily News has a term for it: Sarah-Love.

I thought she would be a terrible governor, would cave to the oil industry

and be out of her element.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  She

has done a terrific job and will probably do very well on the campaign

trail.

The media reports that she is a reformer and in many ways she is.  But one

must put this in context: Almost a quarter of our 2006-2007 legislative body

is in jail, under FBI investigation or waiting for trial under various

corruption schemes revolving around the oil services company, Veco.  Two

thirds of our Congressional delegation will soon by convicted felons.  Under

these circumstances, anyone would be considered a reformer. But to her

credit, she’s cleaned up Juneau (but not Juno as evidenced by her daughter)

and socked it to the oil companies for locking up the natural gas reserves

and bringing in TransCanada to build a pipeline.  She’s probably the first

governor in 25 years that truly understands urban and rural Alaska.  Let’s

hope she finishes her term.

She has clearly energized the Christian Right and if she pulls in any

disaffected Hillary voters, then those voters get what they deserve.  If

politics has become about voting for a pretty, useful product then McCain

should have considered picking the iPhone as his running mate.

In so many ways, she is America and in that sense this is a brilliant move

by McBush, er, I mean McCain.   As an Alaskan, I am simply stunned by the

decision and find it surreal that I’m now reading about Wasilla, the

culturally devoid, redneck capital of the world, in the New York Times.  I

am truly blown away by this series of events and where it may lead this

country.

Does any of this qualify her to be VP or President? Absolutely not. Only a

disillusioned, hate-radio listening, GOP-loving, Jerry Falwell worshipping

person would think otherwise.   I am getting a huge kick out of the

experience by association qualifications:  She’s head of the AK National

Guard, her son is in the Army and Alaska is close to Russia, therefore she’s

nearly the next George Marshall.   Feel free to use this stupid logic in

your life.   Want to be a surgeon but didn’t go to medical school?  No

problem.  If you have ever been to a hospital, know how to spell ‘virus’ and

have experienced any illness, proceed straight to your local medical

facility and start treating patients.

Let’s hope during the VP debates or on Meet the Press, she is asked to point

out on a map the Republic of Georgia, to name and pronounce correctly Iran’s

President and to outline a Russian containment policy (and you thought the

Cold War was over, didn’t you?).   Or perhaps explain how she’s going to

work with the Chinese to help disarm North Korea, pressure Pakistan about

the tribal lands and to name the new Japanese Prime Minister.

McCain doubled down with Palin but it’s hard to imagine a more reckless

choice.  I find it incredible that GOP operatives are now saying she is just

as qualified as some of the other governors McCain was considering.   That

may be true but why was he even considering other non-qualified candidates?

Are they saying that the GOP has no qualified VP candidates?   Gee, maybe

look to the Senate, or the House or even some of the Bush leftovers.  Isn’t

there anyone in the GOP qualified to take over when Johnny misses a few

heartbeats?   But this is a classic GOP move: Create false choices and then

call us unpatriotic for questioning their ideology.  It worked a charm for

Iraq.

Let the games begin. This might be the most interesting 60+ days in politics

my generation will experience. Here’s hoping sanity prevails and Alaska

remains off the map.

-Jim

P.S. Prediction:  Stevens gets convicted but still wins the Senate seat.

The recent charges against him has only increased his visibility and

recognized worth to the State of AK.   I swear, I may even vote for the guy.

If so, I’ll turn in my Democratic card to Chairman Wooster.