Where were you the last time a GOP Senator dumped the Party?

I was working at the Democratic Party at the time, and let’s just say Senator Leahy’s account that – “we knew [about the Jeffords switch] in Vermont. We knew it long – apparently long before anybody down here. It was well talked about. I see Bill Baroonth (ph) here from Vermont. He knows everybody was talking about it before it happened.” – falls in the “things that make you go ‘hmmm'” category for me. There were two of us in the party office at the time, and my boss (Mark Michaud) had the task (via Leahy’s Washington office) of making it all come together on the ground – very quickly – as well as keep it totally hush-hush… and let me tell you, it caught us flat-footed. We only knew a couple days out, which was problematic since I was talking mornings off that week to teach a class in Randolph. Had to do some crazy last minute rearranging.

Anyway, it all worked out so smoothly. There was some sort of right wing gathering in Montpelier and we didn’t want the event crashed, so Burlington was chosen. The evening before, the Chittenden County Dems were phone banking already (I forget why), so it was a simple matter to ask them to shift their focus to turnout for the big announcement. Big crowds, me BSing my way past the cops pretending to be a reporter with a camera (without credentials…heh)… it all came on very, very quickly, but came together perfectly

I dunno. Maybe in Leahy’s office they were talking about it a long time before it happened, but if so, they sure kept it hidden from the rest of us. But that was some fun week, I tellya.