Odum: “I’m a purity of the process guy”

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( – promoted by Sue Prent)

This interview takes place just before Odum announced his goodbye to the GMD community. It has been tough not to notice, however, that he has been more prolific than ever. So fret not, as his bid for Montpelier City Clerk does not culminate until Town Meeting Day, John will still be GMD’s heart and soul for at least the month of February.  

First we discussed John’s print journalism gig at The Bridge. Then we reflected on Odum’s ode to odious 2011, and how the Occupy Wall Street movement has already improved the political dynamic in 2012. Next we previewed the statewide races, in particular Governor Shumlin’s rock star status and the GMD Oddsmaker. We turned to another rock star who’s up for re-election, Senator Sanders, considering his lack of opposition as well as his recent “corporations aren’t people, my friend” legislation.

Finally we discussed the Republican Presidential primary and the supposed inevitability of Romney. John nailed it and said South Carolina would determine whether we in Vermont would have a choice between Romney or Paul or a Romney-Gingrich-Paul choice on our primary day. (John assumes Santorum will be out.) Then I asked John if he advised voting in the VT Repub Primary, and he said no, that after crossing over years ago and voting for Fred Tuttle, he felt bad about it.

Funny though, the guy who now needs to win big in Florida is decidedly NOT a “purity of the process” guy. Here’s Romney defending his own crossing over to vote in Democratic primaries:

I’ve never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot. And any chance I got to vote against Bill Clinton or Ted Kennedy, I took. I have always voted for a Republican any time there was a Republican on the ballot.

So it looks like Vermonters will have a chance to apply Romney’s own logic on Town Meeting Day. So what say ye GMDers? Purity of the process or a chance to vote against a walking corporation?

oh and John, This blog will be a bit like the Enterprise without James Tiberius Kirk at the helm, but I know you’ll make a great City Clerk. And note that he is on record as getting leftygeek.com up and running by Town Meeting Day!

THE FIRST VERMONT PRESIDENTIAL STRAW POLL (for links to the candidates exploratory committees, refer to the diary on the right-hand column)!!! If the 2008 Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary were

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2 thoughts on “Odum: “I’m a purity of the process guy””

  2. Just a reminder – to participate in the Democratic delegate selection process (town caucuses, State Convention, run for delegate, etc) you must pull a Democratic primary ballot.

    Since Vermont doesn’t have any form of party registration, pulling an “R” ballot disqualifies you under the national (DNC) rules.

    Inevitably this causes some problems every cycle – although a lot more in 2000 than 2004 or 2008.  This year I expect a few high-profile folks to get tripped up when they can’t resist the urge to mess with the Republican primary

    The primary ballot taken doesn’t affect the JP caucus later in the year, or any other functions.  Those fall under Vermont law, which basically boils down to a prohibition against participating in the same activity under two different parties.

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