In the wake of the nominating filings and the endless analysis you'll hear about them, I want to reassure my colleagues that we will still have joke candidates to watch at the statewide level. JV is correct in pointing out that there aren't many joke candidates out there, but the cupboard (or nut barrel?) is not completely bare.
In addition to perennial joke candidate Em Peyton, I count one joke candidate on the Democratic ballot.
Yes, our friend Brooke Paige, who took his quixotic birther quest from Montpelier all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, has filed petitions as a Democratic candidate for governor.
Can we expect a series of heated debates in which Peter Shumlin is called upon to prove that he really was born in Brattleboro, on the right side of the river? Will it be questions about his bona fides as a Vermonter because his mother was born in the Netherlands?
Or will the candidacy of Mr. Paige meet the fate of most fringe candidates: little attention and fewer votes?
Stay tuned to find out, but I have a feeling that today's post might be the last thing you hear about Paige's candidacy.
No sooner did I post this than Christian Avard,an old friend of GMD, reminded me that we also have Cris Ericson running on the Marijuana Party ticket. We'll see if she uses this year's election to reprise her anti-semitic attacks on supporters of Israel she used when she was running for Senate in 2010.
that a “debate” with these fringy folks would provide.
His heavily shellacked public presence could benefit from the kind of spontaneity
this “left-field” forum would require.
Too bad there isn’t any chance of that happening.
… I was bemoaning the lack of fringe candidates to take advantage of the wide-open spaces on the Republican ticket. I’m aware of the usual profusion of nutbars. But their only gathering place on the Republican side is the three-ring circus that is the GOP primary for Congress.
… is taking her cue from Teabagistan and has taken to bashing immigrants.
As for the debates, the venues set the rules for participation. VPT does the fringe cattle call and, really, aside from the comic relief, how many of those do we need each season? Emily “Snarling” Peyton, Cris “Egg Carton Waving” Ericson, H. Brooke “Sie Papiere, Bitte!” Paige – for me, once is enough.
I should have included the link to Ericson’s webpage post about immigrants. Here ya go:
http://vermontnews.livejournal…