(Woops… missed this. – promoted by GMD)

The Deb Markowitz’s campaign accepted my invitation to appear on VTblogosphereTV way back in February. Campaign Manager Paul Tencher booked April before Valentine’s Day, indicating an organized and farsighted candidacy.

In terms of internet strategy,  a couple of things have distinguished Deb Markowitz so far this campaign. First, I believe she is the only candidate to date to post on Daily Kos, the flagship national blog. Second, she effectively employed an online petition to help galvanize opposition to relicensing Vermont Yankee.  A foresighted governor who uses the internet creatively could take some getting used to.  

I think it’s clear from the discussion that Deb understands the power of interactivity that the web can provide. And in taking the pledge to not engage in anonymous internet tactics, she makes the point that anonymity on the web is an illusion. Everything is traceable, as evidenced by Peter Freyne’s work in finding out that the Rich Tarrant campaign was behind vermontsenaterace.com in 2006.

I appreciate the point, but I still think it important to have candidates take the pledge. Tarrant went big and set up a website. But an anonymous comment on a blog that has origin in a campaign may not get the attention and may not get traced. So I still think the pledge has value, but Deb’s point is well-taken and indicates her internet savvy. And her larger point about graciousness bears underlining as we all become more engaged in this governor’s race.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3.

[Note: No endorsement implied. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of showcasing the qualities of the guest.]

Deb For Vermont website

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So when I first introduced the “Star Trek or Star Wars” question, John Odum indicated that Doug Racine had given the correct answer in answering Star Trek. This phenomenon, where a highly respected and powerful member of a community weighs in on a topic, thereby irreversibly spoiling the validity of a question, will now forever in statistics be known as the “Odum taint effect.”

Or so I thought the taint was irreversible. In this clip, you can see Matt Dunne single-handedly rescue the question, reject its binary structure, see beyond the options offered and find a third way. Having a governor who can create new answers could take some getting used to.  

Before he discusses his current science fiction favorite (no, not the original show with Lorne Greene), Matt shares some of his concerns about the cynicism he hears on the campaign trail, a trend he finds striking given the tradition of idealism Vermont tends to pride itself on. His articulation of these concerns resonates strongly, and I was reminded of his points when I read this recent front page post on GMD.

Matt then demonstrates a lack of cynicism in sharing ways to find savings in our public education system without having to resort to draconian measures such as the forced consolidation of schools. The clip closes with his revelation of a third way, and a strong recommendation to the uninitiated (such as myself) to boldly enter the twenty first century and not content ourselves with past imaginings of our future to guide us.

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

[Note: No endorsement implied. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of showcasing the qualities of the guest.]

Matt Dunne’s Campaign website

Vermont’s Future issues website

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Matt Dunne’s Vermont’s Future website demonstrates the right way to maintain a website that complements the campaign website. First, it is clear that the site is Matt Dunne’s, with both a prominent link and video on the website’s front page. Next, the site focuses on issues facing Vermonters, and is designed to begin a conversation that Matt sees as extending beyond the campaign.  

Of course, Rich Tarrant’s use of the website Vermontsenaterace.com in 2006 demonstrated the exact wrong way to maintain a website in a campaign and prompted my interest in asking the candidates to pledge not to engage in anonymous internet tactics. The Tarrant site was both anonymous and, instead of discussing issues, began as an “objective” look at the campaign horserace that morphed into a source of attacks on the Sanders campaign.

So it is great to see the Dunne campaign keeping a companion website that is designed to create a space for dialogue around our state’s future. Needless to say, it was easy for Matt to take the pledge, and he expanded the discussion to differentiate between items posted by him and items posted by his campaign. My initial interest in the pledge was not to determine specific authorship of a post, as long as anything posted by a campaign is clearly marked as coming from that campaign. But it should come as no surprise given his knowledge of technology issues that Matt refined the conversation.  Check out the clip to hear Matt highlight some of the issues people have forwarded on Vermont’s Future and then visit the site.

Part 1 HERE

Stay tuned for Part 3 of the Matt Dunne interview

[Note: No endorsement implied. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of showcasing the qualities of the guest.]

Matt Dunne’s Campaign website

Vermont’s Future issues website

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( – promoted by odum)

Matt Dunne responded personally to my invitation to appear on VTblogosphereTV and then handed scheduling over to the able David Babbott. We determined a date to shoot easily and David kept me apprised of a potential conflict but did some shuffling so that Matt could fit the interview in between a luncheon at Dealer.com and a discussion with the UVM College Democrats. I was left with an impression of a kinetic, conscientious and connected campaign. A kinetic, conscientious, and connected governor could take some getting used to.  

Matt Dunne explicitly relates his understanding of the internet to the challenges of governing in the twenty-first century. Transparency and connectivity are essential to transforming our state government. In discussing his issues website Vermont’s Future, Matt states “I believe that democracy on the web works.”  On one level, he simply means that it is important to trust that dialogues on the web concerning politics need not devolve into shouting matches, but can actually result in bringing new ideas to light.

On another level, though, Matt is suggesting that by smartly moving some of the functions of governance to the web, we will ultimately live in a state that is more responsive and more representative.

He expands on these twin themes of transparency and connectivity throughout the interview, so stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3.

[Note: No endorsement implied. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of showcasing the qualities of the guest.]

Matt Dunne’s Campaign website

Vermont’s Future issues website

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I think we’ve all had the experience of opening a cell phone and flashing on some Star Trek episode or line. Or maybe we all haven’t, but I sure have. The Star Trek flip-open communicator’s resemblance to a modern cell phone is downright uncanny. So it is fitting that this clip begins with a discussion of cell phone coverage in Vermont, and ends with Doug Racine taking an unequivocally pro-Star Trek position on perhaps the most controversial nerd question of our times. Note his near-poetic capturing of the geewhiz New Frontier optimism the show represents.  

I wanted to make sure I got at least one question that spoke to character, a question that could not be answered with a canned policy regurgitation, a question that riffed on John Hodgman’s roasting of the President at the 2009 Correspondent’s Dinner (VIDEO HERE).  But rather than quiz a candidate on the esoterica of nerdaphernalia, I thought why not boldly go where no one has gone before, a galaxy far far away?

After the interview, the discussion continued and I was impressed with how Mr. Racine reflected on how, particularly in earlier episodes, the women were pretty much reduced to serving coffee in go-go boots. He also mentioned recently re-seeing the movie M*A*S*H. The movie he remembered liking when it first came out now looked to him like mean-spirited humiliation of a strong woman. Having a Governor who can evaluate evolving gender politics in popular culture could take some getting used to.

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

[Note: No endorsement implied. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of showcasing the qualities of the guest.]

Doug Racine’s website

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This clip (2nd of 3) opens up with some discussion of the positive issues-based campaign underway in the Democratic primary for VT Governor. Then we move from the campaign to the issues.  

Doug does a great job of explaining impediments to a statewide single payer healthcare system, without making it sound hopeless. But it is the next section of the interview that I found most helpful.  I must admit I have always had trouble understanding the relationship between the Public Service Board and the Public Service Department. But with Doug Racine’s explanation here of how the two differ and interact, I think I may finally get it.

Part 1 of interview is HERE

Stay tuned for part 3.

Note: This post is neither an explicit nor implied endorsement of any candidate. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of introducing sympathetic interviews with praiseful posts.

Doug Racine’s website

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( – promoted by odum)

and also the plunge. I invited the four Democratic gubernatorial candidates whom I have seen post on GMD to come on VTblogosphereTV to discuss the internet and the issues. Big thanks to Amy Schollenberger, Racine’s Field Director, for responding the next day with a positive response and a suggested date and time to shoot. Having a Governor who surrounds him or herself with a competent responsive staff could take some getting used to.  

A reason I thought candidates may not want to come on such a show is the negative perception that public access tv production values can be quite amateurish. And of course, in fulfillment of my worst possible nightmare, an incomplete version of the program went to air last week while I was on vacation. Apologies to anyone who may have seen it, but it is fixed now and is airing for the next few weeks on access stations throughout the state. Thanks to the Racine campaign for showing the leadership to plunge in first and utilize the community resource that is public access TV.   Also, they were extremely gracious and patient as post-production issues were worked out, and I think now we have a decent enough version on air (green screen shadows haunt my dreams), though I do not believe the quality of the production rises to meet the quality of the candidate. But the interview itself went great and was a lot of fun.

And now the pledge: I’d like to see candidates agree that they will not engage in any anonymous internet sketchiness that was so well exemplified by Rich Tarrant’s 2006 Senate bid. If you do not recall that storied campaign and its enactment of “Not the Vermont Way,” you can read David Waldman’s (Kagro X’s) post GOP candidate bankrolls fake blog. That campaign also accused the Sanders campaign of buying the domain name “Tarrantsucks.com” and using it to redirect traffic to “Bernie.org.” No really.

If candidates pledge that neither they nor their staff will engage in anonymous internet tactics, then we will be much better able to trust the election season dialogue that will occur in the blogosphere. Of course candidates can not control all their supporters, but they can certainly control their staff and strategy. And once we head into the general election, with Democratic candidates clearly on the high road, we will be better able to figure out the source if anonymous internet sketchiness rears its head.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of the Doug Racine interview

Doug Racine’s website

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(Another good edition of TV interviews with Vermont bloggers. – promoted by Jack McCullough)

Episode 20 of VTblogosphereTV airs tonight and we have a legitimate actual piece of real breaking news. Vermont’s two leading online journalists are planning to collaborate. Yes Jon Margolis of Vermont News Guy and Anne Galloway of VT Digger have “had lunch” in the parlance of the industry. They may have actually had lunch as well. I take it as a very good sign that Vermont’s fledgling professional news sites are thinking collaboratively instead of competitively. The odds that they will thrive and build an online reporting infrastructure for the state just got that much better.

Part of what makes Vermont so special is we have these incredibly accomplished people tucked away in the hills quietly doing their thing. If you are unaware of just how much Mr. Margolis brings to the table, check this out. Thanks to Jon for kicking off our first show of the new year in such an auspicious fashion.  

In this clip, Jon also discusses Vermont Yankee and the Rainy Day fund.

The whole episode will show tonight at 7pm on ORCA Media channel 15 in Central VT, and play throughout the month. VCAM in Burlington also airs it, and Rutland and Hardwick may or may not be picking it up as well.  

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A man who needs no introduction (I actually forgot to state his name in the intro) takes us back in time to the bloggers’ summit of December 6, 2008. Initiatives started there include moving the primary date to earlier in the year, creating a structure so that the state Democratic party can be more responsive, and designing a way to help the gubernatorial primary winner get over the finish line financially. Watch below to find out the present state of these initiatives.

In terms of financial support, John created the Facebook group 1000 Vermonters for Change. The goal is to commit 1000 people to give $100 to the winner of the Democratic primary on the day after the primary election (presently slated for September 14, 2010). So take a look at your wallet and then take a look at your least favorite candidate for Democratic nominee. If you can see yourself writing them a check in the fall to help them reclaim the Governor’s office, join the group and take the pledge. If you are not on Facebook, John is keeping a tally of the total which  today looks like 244 in the Facebook group, plus 5 more he’s gathered through email. Remember he launched this back in May when we had no idea how strong the field would be.

So if you haven’t already, take a minute in this season of giving and do something concrete to make 2010 a better year.

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

Vtdigger has only been online since September 2009, but already Anne Galloway’s  journalistic venture has met its objective “to mine the gaps in Vermont news coverage.” Recently Vtdigger filled the void left by lack of newspaper focus in covering the governor’s race. As noted here, Seven Days, and Vermont News Guy, the Environmental Action Conference in Randolph acted as the kick-off to Democratic primary season, but most news organizations missed the obvious headline that all five pledged to shut down Vt Yankee. Since our interview, Anne has also started sorting candidates’ answers by topic with the League of Conservation Voters debate. This kind of video editing and uploading is an incredibly time consuming process but the result is a handy way to compare the candidates.  

Not content to cover event-based stories, Vtdigger has gone deep on complicated issues as well. The quantity and quality of stories Vtdigger has posted on Vermont’s dairy crisis is amazing given the short period of time the site has been in existence. And just this week again, GMD frontpaged VTdigger’s work digging behind the headlines to give voice to Curtis Sinclair and discover the story behind the State Hospital’s canteen shutdown.

VTdigger is not a blog, but it complements VT’s blogosphere nicely.  The site recently underwent a facelift and there are more changes in the works to make it more interactive. To that end, Anne has plans to structure citizen involvement in covering local and statewide political issues. And vtdigger is also practically engaging the question of how to make professional journalism economically viable in the 21st century. With underwriting, grant, subscriber, and donation support, and a whole lot of excellent journalism, Vtdigger will no doubt be a durable excavator on the VT media landscape.