A priceless story posted by the Freeps’ Terri Hallenbeck on vt.Buzz today. It’s about Governor Shumlin’s star turn at the Vermont Chamber of Commerce’s Business Expo.

Shumlin talked up Vermont’s rebounding economy, implicitly giving himself credit. “There’s a vibrancy about Vermont’s business climate right now… Today, we have lots of good things happening.”

Standing next to him was Chamber President Betsy Bishop, a former top aide to Jim Douglas. And Shumlin happily referred to an earlier talk by Mike Smith, formerly of the Douglas Administration and now at FairPoint; Smith had also highlighted the rebounding economy.

When asked about this, Bishop argued that Vermont’s turnaround began under Douglas and has merely continued under Shumlin.

Shumlin got to give a speech because, well, he’s the Governor and all. His challenger, not so much:  

Out in the halls of the business expo, Shumlin’s election opponent, Republican Randy Brock, was networking. One of his goals in the 2012 election will be to persuade voters that Shumlin is out-and-out bad for business.

…Brock will have a tougher argument to make if the economy really does keep turning around and if every every time he turns around, former Douglas aides are standing by Shumlin.

Heh, heh. Yeah.