With all the excitement and suspense since the primary, I never got a chance to say how honored I was to be a part of the grass-roots movement to carry Doug Racine to the governor’s seat. I think what we accomplished deserves recognition and a moment of celebratory reflection.
Conventional wisdom is that money wins elections. If there is any take-away from the whole race, it is that that ain’t necessarily so (cue Gershwin). With all the funding that other candidates could claim, the passion of roughly 600 grass-roots volunteers in the Racine campaign pretty-much levelled-out the playing field. “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” as the saying goes; but apparently, it also doesn’t buy elections in Vermont. I say this with no disrespect to the other candidates, who all had their share of informed, committed supporters; but because this bodes well for the general, where Brian Dubie will be surfing on national cash.
What we learned from the primary, and what will empower us as we move into the general campaign is the certain knowledge that Vermont voters as a whole are becoming smarter, more engaged, and are swelling the Democratic/Progressive ranks.
It is a testament to Doug Racine’s personal magnetism and his honest and realistic approach to issues which matter to Vermont voters that his message resonated so well without a boatload of media buys.
Whatever the final outcome, this primary has restored my hope for the future of Vermont and my commitment to the cause of public education in the service of democracy. Thank you, Doug!
While I can applaud Racine’s campaign for being able to run on a shoestring budget, it shows that this type of strategy is great for a second place finish.
Make no mistake, if the D’s run this type of campaign in the general, like they have done for the last 3 election cycles, they can expect the same second place finish.
Hi Everyone,
I made hundreds of calls for Peter Shumlin and so did many other volunteers. We are all Vermonters who care deeply about the issues, and not out of state people from somewhere in the “South.” This may have not been visible, but it was going on just as intensely as the volunteering for Doug Racine.
Racine, Shumlin AND Dunne all had volunteers and grassroots efforts. I was making phone calls for Peter Shumlin and canvassing, and I definitely saw canvassers for Matt Dunne while I was out there. Let’s be clear, that at least those three campaigns all had grassroots efforts.