“Corrected count gives Ashe sixth Senate seat”

Free Press web site

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

I feel terrible for Ms. Barnard (no fun to think you’ve won only to learn you didn’t) but am very pleased with this result. Tim is a smart guy who knows how to work with other people and will be a great asset in the Senate.

Eh, this could just be a coincidence, I certainly hope so. My friend, who has AOL for internet, says when you log in , there's always an ASCII artwork thingie on your welcome page. When she got up this morning to read about the good Obama news, what was it this time?

In a way, Jim Douglas and Brian Dubie really got what they deserve:  a requirement and a necessity to work for a living.  It may be the first time they will ever have to face the kind of challenge so many Vermonters experience on a daily basis. 

The question is, can they live up to the job?

The next two years will be an incredible challenge for the governor.  Jim Douglas will be responsible for guiding Vermont through a deep recession.  He will have to provide essential government services at the same time revenues are dramatically decreasing.  And of course, Vermonters will expect a balanced budget.

Here are just a few must-do issues Jim Douglas has inherited from himself:

1. Economy:  Job losses, Unemployment, Foreclosures & Bankruptcies, New Business development, Competitive Wages.
2. Affordability:  Food, Heating fuel and Health Care.
3. Transportation:  Bridge, road and public transit infrastructure.
4. Entergy:  Entergy's decomissioning fund, Entergy contract renewal, Entergy post 2012 cost per kilowatt.

How will Douglas and Dubie work on these issues, and will they produce tangible results?  Here are the most important questions to ask.

1. Taxes:  How will Jim Douglas escape the necessity of raising taxes?  Will he use hidden fees to raise revenue? 
2. Bonding:  Will Douglas borrow his way through the next two years?
3. Government Relations: Will Douglas work with Legislature to pass critical, time-sensitive bills so Vermonters can realize immediate benefits?
4. State Employees:  Will Douglas shave unnecessary positions, such as spokespeople, advisors and communications positions?  Will he eliminate bonuses and freeze wages at the top? 
5. Administration:  Will Douglas hold his political appointees accountable for outcomes?  Will Neale Lunderville bring agency decision-makers around the table to learn what resources they need to deliver services more effectively?  Or will the new Sec of Admin continue to deliver top-down political slogans?  Will Neale Lunderville assume the same responsibility of professional development that many of his subordinates have done by earning a Masters Degree in Public Administration?  
6. Accountability: Will Douglas fulfill prior initiatives, including his 2006 E-State and Green Valley initiatives?  Will he create new private-sector jobs?
7. Brian Dubie:  Will Dubie run off on yet another two-week glory-soldiering mission in September 2009 or another politically convenient moment?  Will he continue to brag about his military adventures while Auditor Tom Salmon continues to serve in Afghanistan?  Will he be present in his office at least 20 hours per week?  Will he show us his tax return.  Dubie, as you may recall, was the only candidate who refused to show his financials when challenged, mocking Costello by saying, “What's next?  My medical records?”

Over the next two years Vermonters will see that we, too, have gotten what we deserve in leadership.  We now stand with Utah, Indiana and North Dakota with our 2008 decision for a Republican governor.  Meanwhile some of the most conservative states in the country chose a Democratic governor.  The day has come when West Virginia, North Carolina, Montana, Delaware and New Hampshire are trending left while Vermont moves more to the right.  We may like to think otherwise, but in reality we are falling behind on many progressive issues, most noticeably in the area of renewable energy.  Ouch.   

Below the fold:  who we need to hold accountable in the Democratic party and an open invitation for Progressives to do the same.

In the same way that grassroots Dems hold our own accountable, it would be refreshing to hear at least a token of self-criticism from grassroots Progressives.  A single word of legitimate critique on Anthony Pollina, please?  

I posted the following in the comment section of another diary, but it's definitely worth repeating.  Democrats need to demand more from our “leaders.”

Here are my thoughts once again and for the record. 

43 years ago, a small group of us left Middlebury to march with Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery.  

Last night, we finally got there.

(Since this seems to be the most relevant diary right now, I’m bumping it up to the top. – promoted by JulieWaters)

A lot of lefties are waking up this morning feeling all dressed up with nowhere to go, as there will be no legislative showdown for the Governorship after all. Here are the numbers so far via WCAX:

Douglas, Jim 149314 54.4%

Pollina, Anthony 58984 21.5%

Symington, Gaye 58308 21.3%

It’s fairly self-evident that bragging rights for the second place slot were going to be significant, but as it stands so far, Pollina and Symington have virtually the same vote count, with only 676 votes (or .2 percent) separating them. If these votes hold (and they will change somewhat) it’s interesting to compare these results to Pollina’s results in 2002, where he came in third to Dubie and Shumlin with 56564 votes or 24.8%, meaning he increased his vote by 2420 votes or 4.3 percent, which will likely not be near the increase in actual turnout. The mind boggles at what the numbers might have been if they had run someone like Zuckerman who didn’t come with the kind of polarizing baggage that will clearly continue to hardwire Pollina from ever achieving the top spot (Zuckerman, by the way, was the top vote getter in his own district, but will be joined in the statehouse by Democrat Kesha Ram who handily defeated incumbent Progressive Chris Pearson).

So although I do have a nasty stomach bug, I can’t help but wonder if what was really making me nauseous was watching the return of much-loved Chris Graff to the pundit-waves. Graff waxed all squooshy about how the “big story” of the election was his pal Jim Douglas, who’d managed to rise above the partisanship and unite Vermonters under his banner.

Graff, of course, is an old Middlebury pal of Douglas’s, and as the dean of the Vermont Press Corps, always set the tone among the fourth estate that allowed Douglas to get off the hook for everything. He was clearly making up for lost time here.

Because the big story of the night was obviously the unprecedented collapse of the Symington effort. Symington, whose unfavorables tripled from 15% to 45% in a month, leaving Pollina to pick up about three quarters of the fallout, and Douglas with the other quarter, pushing him over the top. Vermont, with its small population, has always had the potential to turn on a dime like this, but we’ve never seen it happen in my memory.

Why did it happen? Lots of reasons. Pollina’s challenge of the campaign finance law didn’t hurt him, and for the rest of the campaign he didn’t screw up, allowing him (and Douglas) to be beneficiaries of the collapse. Douglas’s negative attacks were obviously effective, but they were enabled by Symington’s bungling of the personal finances matter. Symington also ran a classic Democratic campaign – that is, she wasn’t chewing gum and walking at the same time. She spent a lot of time hammering Douglas, which we all wanted to see, but largely let up on trying to define herself right when the Douglas and Pollina defining of her began. Bad timing.

And there were lots of mysteries about the Symington campaign. WHy on Earth was there zero Symington visibility at the Montpelier polling place at 7:30 AM Election Morning? Somehow I doubt that was an isolated incident.

One thing for sure, if Pollina does what he’s reportedly talking about doing – announce his 2010 run this week – we’re all screwed. There is no way to look at these numbers and feel buoyed for yet another run, unless he and his supporters are simply fixated on the triumph of beating the Dem and aren’t looking clear-headedly at the overall numbers. Of course, we’ve had Progressive stalwarts on this website insisting that the very notion of such disproportionate glee is poppycock. I guess we’ll know more over the next few days.

There is much, much more to discuss (including some major concerns over the Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign this time around, and the damage that may have been inflicted on future election cycles), but let’s start with this.

RISE AND SHINE Y’ALL! IT’S A BEAUTIFUL MORNING!

Hello. Independent small-p “progressive” jvwalt here. First of all, I fully admit and acknowledge that I badly underestimated Tony Pollina’s electoral strength. I didn’t think he could crack double digits, and he proved me wrong.

That said, it’s difficult to see his showing as a victory for progressive (or Progressive) politics. He and Symington split the hard-core liberal vote. Neither made a dent in Jim Douglas; in fact, they lost ground during the campaign. In a year when Democrats made impressive gains nationwide, when Barack Obama won more than two-thirds of Vermont’s Presidential votes, when the Governor presided over a sagging economy and a lackluster administration — in short, in a year when the door was wide open for a liberal victory in Vermont, the Dems and Progs shared a bit more than 40% of the vote. Approximately 70,000 — seventy thousand — Obama voters turned their backs on Symington and Pollina, and voted for Douglas.

If that isn’t a huge indictment of the left’s political ineffectiveness in Vermont, I don’t know what is.

I expect there will be a lot of post-election sniping between Dems and Progs. I expect there will be some deserved crowing on the part of Pollina backers. But as someone who does not belong to either camp — I’d like to see both parties thrive in an electoral system with IPV — let me say that this election was a disaster for Dems and Progs alike. It was a great opportunity gone up in smoke. And it begs the question: who can lead the left to a Gubernatorial victory? Can Dems and Progs find a way to cooperate, or will this circular firing squad continue to the endless delight of Jim Douglas and the GOP?

Could, perhaps, our two Senators have a meeting of the minds, come home together, and crack some goddamn heads? That’s my suggestion anyway. I welcome other ideas on how to build a successful progressive (or Progressive) movement in Vermont.  

"Frankly, I need a better partner in the general assembly…” Jim Douglas during the campaign and in numerous debates.

NO Gov. Douglas, the general assembly needs a better partner in the Governors office.

We know the “better partner” will not come from the result of tonight’s election. So it falls to the Democratic and Progressive legislators to MAKE Douglas a better partner.

A strong proactive agenda that does not compromise what they were elected to do! House and Senate leadership must not bow to Douglas, must not capitulate, and must not allow him to set the agenda. A quick, decisive set of bills must be passed that forces Douglas into tough choices.

Who leads the House Democrats is now as important a decision as anything for the Governors race in 2010. They will be counted on to keep Douglas accountable.

So folks can dissect the 2008 Governors race all they want. But the same advice I gave after the 2006 election I will give again. If ALL of our focus is not on Douglas, then we are not focused on what we need to be. As simple as that…

220 Electoral votes.

California has 55.

Do the math.