So in one week's time there will be both the Progressive and Democratic caucuses to nominate candidates for Burlington mayor. The Progs had originally planned their caucus for December 11th. As we know, Burlington Dems held their caucus last month and ended with a tie between Tim Ashe and Miro Weinberger after several rounds of votes. Only people who registered for the original caucus will be able to cast a ballot in the subsequent one. The Democrats then determined to hold their caucus on the same day as the Progressives and at nearly the same time.

There is still bad blood between Dems and Progs here in Burlington. Even if Ashe has done a good job representing Chittenden County in the Vermont Senate, his pursual of the mayoral nomination has raised divisions in Burlington Dems. To judge by comments on Blurt, the Seven Days blog, Dems who are supportive of Miro or other defeated Dem candidates might be ready to jump ship if Ashe wins the nomination and back Wright. This is despite the fact that both Wright and Ashe were on the Board of Finance when Burlington Telecom was going through all of its problems. Ashe is being haunted by some comments he has made in the past, while Kurt is benefitting mostly by not being a Progressive, having a high profile in the city for years and having the backing of the New North End, which turns out heavily to vote in local elections.

The fact that both caucuses are the same day rankled Progressives in Burlington and if Ashe isn't nominated, along with Progressives electing to nominate somebody would mean a 3-way race that could easily hand Wright the mayor's office. This is made even easier after IRV was repealed, as we reverted to the old system of just needing to get above 40% to win. I didn't participate in the Dem caucus and I'm not about to attend the Prog one either. I will vote for the Dem nominee, but observing all the snipping at each other will just make Wright's life a lot easier. The messy Dem caucus not ending with a winner definitely didn't help, but the subsequent caucus to be held at the same time as the Prog's was like rubbing salt in a wound, it stings.

I have some popcorn on the shelf ready to watch the spectacle, if tempers and ego boil over come December 11th.