You’ve heard of RINOs — Republicans In Name Only. Now, I guess we’ve got Republicans In All But Name, which is unfortunately not so catchy an acronym.

Earlier today came news that former Douglas Administration Ag Secretary Roger Allbee is running for State Senate as a Democrat in Windham County — a liberal province where no Republicans are likely to run for the two available Senate seats.

Well, no Republicans are likely to run as Republicans.

And now we’ve got another.

Former State Representative Oliver Olsen, who stepped down in 2012, is making another bid to represent his south-central Vermont district. This time, as an Independent. (He actually announced a couple weeks ago, but I just came across the news in the Manchester Journal.) His explanation sounds almost exactly like Allbee’s:

He said he has always been fairly independent and considers himself a centrist.

“I have been encouraged to run by, and have support from, a number of Republicans and Democrats in our district as well as Democratic and Republican elected officials,” he said in an email. “With the challenge of having to juggle full time work responsibilities, I simply don’t have time to deal with overhead that comes with a party label.”

‘Overhead”?

Huh. I’ve never been a candidate, but what “overhead” exactly?  

Olsen served one-and-a-half terms in the House, and was one of the more vocal members of the Republican super-minority during the 2010 biennium. Some considered him a rising star in the party. Not any more, I guess.

Is this the beginning of a trend? Former Republican politicos making comebacks under different labels? We’ll see if anyone else comes out from under his/her rock by the Thursday deadline.

As I said in my Allbee comment previously, it’s strange timing. I can understand why center-right Republicans would feel disaffected during the “Angry Jack” Lindley regime. But now, with Phil Scott leading the charge for a more inclusive VTGOP, I’d think his fellow “moderates” would give their party another chance, and give Scott a little support in his ongoing battle with party dead-enders.

But time and tide wait not for the politically ambitious. And the non-Republican candidacies of Allbee and Olsen appear to be signs that the VTGOP brand is just too toxic for a whole lot of people.

On the other hand, maybe this is a pro-wrestling style swerve: after the election, Olsen and Allbee will appear at the Republican “victory” party, having re-registered as Republicans on Election Day, and sneer at the suckers who fell for the ruse.  

No, we don’t have anyone legally changing their name to enhance their otherwise dim electoral prospects. But we do have a former Jim Douglas cabinet official running for the State Senate…

… as a Democrat.

Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz:

On Monday, Grace Cottage Hospital CEO and former Vermont secretary of agriculture Roger Allbee announced that he, too, would run.

… Though he worked in former governor Jim Douglas’ administration and ran for the House as a Republican in 2004, Allbee said he planned to run for the Senate as a Democrat.

“I’ve been a liberal Republican, but I’ve always voted across party lines, supported [U.S. Rep.] Peter Welch, [U.S. Sen.] Patrick Leahy and others.”

Good on ya, Roger. And maybe he’s had an authentic Jim Jeffords change of heart. But the timing — after the “moderates” have taken a measure of control in the VTGOP — is curious to say the least. You’d think he’d want to stick it out and help Phil Scott rebuild.

Which makes me suspect that he’s just a rank opportunist who knows he can’t win as a Republican in Windham County — the VTGOP hasn’f fielded a single candidate so far, and likely won’t — so he’s trying to backdoor his way into office.

His entry will mean a crowded Democratic primary with incumbent Jeanette White, newcomers Joan Bowman and Becca Balint, plus the freshly-minted Democrat Roger Allbee. And the thankfully departing Peter Galbraith aimed a swift kick at the other Dems on his way out the door:

While Galbraith would not yet offer a direct endorsement, he appears to support Allbee’s bid. The incumbent senator joined his Townsend neighbor at Brattleboro’s Gallery Walk Friday evening as the latter collected signatures to win a place on the ballot.

Thanks a lot, Citizen Peter.  

Wowee, great news from the southeast today, where The Most Hated Man in the Senate has decided that two terms are enough. VTDigger:

Maverick Windham County Sen. Peter Galbraith said Monday that he won’t seek a third term in November.

Yahoo! Whoopee! Good riddance to annoying, egotistical rubbish.

Y’know, we could have a substantially improved State Senate after the November elections. At least some of the Democratic deadwood is thankfully departing, and Franklin County could significantly upgrade its delegation.

Of course, Galbraith has a typically self-aggrandizing rationale for his departure.

The Townshend Democrat said his growing involvement in an informal effort to find a political solution to the Syrian civil war won’t allow him to continue serving as a state senator.

Ah yes, The Great Diplomat hasn’t got time for the petty problems of us Vermonters, because The World Awaits His Genius. Well, I’m sure he’ll do a bang-up job with his next peace mission. Or possibly a “boom rat-a-tat-a-tat bang ka-pow blammo” job. Personally, I wouldn’t want Peter Galbraith diplomatizing a recess dispute at an elementary school.

I’m extra relieved at his departure because I saw a developing scenario that might have eased his way to a third term. Windham County’s other Senator, Jeanette White, is presumably safe. Two other candidates, Becca Balint and Joan Bowman, had already announced bids for the Senate, which could have led to the distressing scenario of the two newcomers splitting the anti-Galbraith vote and inadvertently ensuring his victory in a Democratic primary.

But that’s all academic now.

My only regret is that I won’t get the chance to post excerpts from “The Operators,” the late great Vermont journalist Michael Hastings’ book about American involvement in Afghanistan. He supposedly had some very caustic things to say about Mr. Galbraith, and I was looking forward to sharing. Oh well.

The Slummin’ Solon couldn’t exit the stage without some additional self-aggrandizement, of course:

“I think I did many things that antagonized the powers that be,” he said. “But I think they realized that I was not going to be subject to pressure.”

What a frickin’ hero. What a gasbag, making himself sound like some kind of political Steven Seagal. (Hmm. Actually, that’s about right; Seagal’s a phony tough guy, and Galbraith is a phony politico.) The only reason he wasn’t “subject to pressure” is that he was an entirely self-funded politician, who bought his way into the Senate with $50,000 of his oil millions.

But wait, there’s more:

Galbraith thanked the voters of Windham County for their support and wrote in an email that, “I intend to remain engaged in the affairs of the community and state that has always been my home, but, for the time being, I will do so under the title of citizen.”

Oh, just shut up.

In reality, Galbraith will continue to “remain engaged” under the same title as ever.

Bozo.  

Hey there, bunky. Having trouble finding candidates for the big election, hmm? Well, fret not, my friend. I’ve got just the thing for ya.

Take a look toward the great Southwest, in particular the great state of Arizona, where a perpetually losing Republican named Scott Fistler came up with a novel idea for his lack of appeal with voters.

He legally changed his name to Cesar Chavez, and is running for Congress as a Democrat. The theory being, I guess, that Hispanic voters (and Dems in general) are too damn stupid to realize that the real Cesar Chavez has been dead since 1993.

Shameful enough for you? How about this: His campaign website used to feature photographs of colorful pro-Chavez signs and rallies. Which were actually celebrating the real Cesar Chavez and the late Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Any old port in a storm for a down-on-his-luck Republican, I guess. And speaking of down-on-their-luck Republicans, it gives me a great idea for our own VTGOP. With the filing deadline looming on Thursday, the party has no known candidates for Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney General, or Secretary of State, and may or may not have an actual Republican running for Governor.

Well, Scott Fis — I mean, Cesar Chavez to the rescue. And without further ado, I present my dream Republican ticket for 2014.  

Drum roll, please…

For Governor: “Howard Dean.” A name with national stature as a liberal leader, and of course a long tenure in Vermont.  

For Attorney General: “TJ Donovan.” The real Donovan almost beat Bill Sorrell in the 2012 Democratic primary. Maybe the fake Donovan can pull it off in November.

For Auditor: “Tom Salmon.” The real one or a fake one, what’s the diff? (Actually, I think the real one WAS fake.)

For Treasurer: “Jeb Spaulding.” The real Jeb used to be Treasurer, and he’s still got a high profile, right? And if voters see an unfamiliar-looking “Spaulding,” they might just think he finally got around to shaving off that oddly disquieting beard.

For Secretary of State: “Jim Condos.” Because you cannot hope to defeat Jim Condos, you can only hope to contain him.

There you go, VTGOP. No charge. All you need is a handful of loyalists willing to legally change their names for the sake of their party.

It may be a longshot that the fake candidates can get through a campaign without being exposed, but hell, it’s better than no shot at all, right?  

Vermont law requires municipalities to publish an annual report. From the Rutland city charter, which is codified in state law:

The City report shall be published annually, on or before the 15th day of November each year, by the direction of the Mayor. It shall contain a clear statement of the financial affairs of the City, including a record of all expenditures, receipts, and disbursements of the City moneys, and the name and amount of compensation for services from the City of every person receiving compensation by way of salary or otherwise in amount of $300 or more a year.

Okay, fine. Cities are required to publish information about their operations. No one is required to actually read the things, but still, it’s good fundamental public policy.

But in Rutland, they didn’t do it. The Killington-based Mountain Times:

The Rutland city report, a comprehensive summary of all financial affairs of the city and city employee salaries for the current fiscal year, was not distributed this year prior to town meeting in March when voters vote on exactly that – the finances of the city and city schools.

… Rutland City Clerk Henry Heck, in emails dating back to March and April, said the city report was not produced because of a problem with a printing company and acquiring a printing company to make the correct size of report. There was not a local company that could do it, Heck said at the time.

So, state law mandates an annual report no later than November 15. There was no report as of Town Meeting Day in March. There still isn’t one.

And it’s because of a printing problem? Seriously? Six months, you can’t find a printer?

After the jump: lame excuses, lots of questions, and conspicuous silence from one Wendy Wilton, champion of accountability.  

The Times made a public records request on April 16 for “any email correspondence, written correspondence, contracts and/or bids related to the FY13 City Report.” Y’know, to verify the claim about a six-month-long printer problem. Six weeks later, no response from the city.

The initial Mountain Times article was published on May 28. A follow-up, posted on June 5, reported that…

Some, but not all, of the Rutland city report detailing financial information for the 2012/2013 fiscal year is now posted at  www.rutlandcity.org – six months after it was legally due.

The report, absent the fire, police and mayoral annual summaries, is published online. There is no indication it will be printed in hard copy and sent to Rutland residents as in years past.

The Times hasn’t been able to get a comment from Republican Mayor Chris Louras, but he reportedly told the Rutland Herald that the delay “primarily had to do with a printing issue and a lack of manpower in the mayor’s office.” (I can’t confirm that, because I don’t have access to the Herald’s paywalled website.)

Yeah, well, Mr. Mayor, it’s not a suggestion — it’s the frickin’ law.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to enforce the law. Deputy Secretary of State Brian Leven told the Times that “There is no process for reporting the apparent violation because neither our office nor the Attorney General’s has any authority to enforce a provision of a municipal charter.” The only recourse is for a citizen to file a lawsuit against the city — a suit the city would surely lose.

In this age of online “publishing,” one could argue it’s wasteful to publish a paper version of the city report. Fine. But the answer is to change the law, not ignore it.

A number of questions come to mind.

— Republicans like to talk about accountability and transparency, and often knock the Democrats for alleged lack of same. Well, Rutland’s a Republican town. Hypocrisy much?

— No one is laying any blame at the feet of City Treasurer Wendy Wilton. But her silence is, to say the least, interesting. When she ran for State Treasurer in 2012, she promised to provide:

*Strong, Independent fiscal leadership; checks and balances

*Improvements in Vermont’s financial transparency scores

*Support for state & local government on reporting and accountability issues

*Greater communication with lawmakers and the public about VT’s finances

That’s from the homepage of her still-extant campaign website. Funny, I haven’t heard any outrage from her about Rutland’s lack of leadership or financial transparency or accountability or communication with the public.

— How do you write a requirement into state law without including an enforcement mechanism?

— Why doesn’t anybody in Rutland care enough to file a lawsuit? I’d think a local Democrat would do it, just to embarrass the city government.

— The second-biggest city in Vermont is openly flouting the law. Why hasn’t this been a bigger story?  

You may have questions of your own, but that’s a good start. Seems to me, this ought be a big deal.  

Late add: Apparently the Republicans have an unnamed “in case of Peyton, break glass” emergency candidate. See below.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Time to throw tomatoes at the Republican lifeboat. VTDigger:

Republican Randy Brock will not seek a rematch with Gov. Peter Shumlin.

I don’t blame Brock; he did his good-soldier duty in 2012, taking on a long-odds challenge with a bankrupt and disorganized party “behind him,” and spending a goodly chunk of his own money because his alleged friends failed to muster sufficient resources. I’m actually surprised it took him this long to say “no.” But apparently, a lot of folks — most of them the same people who failed him two years ago — were strongly urging him to run. (Not for his sake, nor for Vermont’s; but so the party’s conservative wing could keep up the pretense of being influential.)

Well, he’s not gonna do it.

And where does that leave moderate Republican Scott Milne, who has said he would run only if Brock did, thus setting the stage for a primary battle that would help raise the party’s profile through the summertime?

“If Randy’s not going to run, I’ve got to rethink what the path is to victory, which is greatly reduced without a Republican primary,” Milne said Saturday. “It’s a tough row to hoe to beat Shumlin anyway. He’s publicly said he’s not going to talk until after September. I can’t talk to myself all summer.”

Milne apparently has petition signatures in his pocket, but won’t decide whether to turn them in until the Thursday deadline. And if he doesn’t?

Perpetual candidate Emily Peyton, advocate of legalized marijana and a state bank, and 9/11 truther, who’s already filed as a Republican candidate for Governor, may become the official face of the VTGOP.

Bwahahahaha.

__________________________________

Update. Brock told the Freeploid’s Terri Hallenbeck that if Milne decides against running, “another unidentified Republican is ready to step in at the last moment.” So, things not looking so good for Ms. Peyton, I guess.

As for the Mystery Man’s identity, please let it be Jack McMullen. Please please pleeeeeeeeease!

This morning’s edition of my Times Argus brought a smile to my face. Followed, as I perused the lead story, by more smiles, chuckles, an incredulous snort, and some outbreaks of laughter that prompted Loyal Spouse to look up from our Eggs In Purgatory* with a quizzical expression.

*Some kind of tomato sauce in a frying pan, eggs cooked on top. Today it was Mexican style: sauteed onion, canned tomatoes, and salsa under the eggs.

The source of my amusement was entitled “Vt. GOP spurning ‘vitriolic’ strategy.” (The online version, behind the Mitchell Family Paywall, has a more benign title.)

Yeah? Huh. Is this the VTGOP whose chair, “Super Dave” Sunderland, disgorged a pair of awfully darn vitriolic press releases in the past few days? The more recent, previously dissected in these virtual pages, was a slam at the Shumlin Administration for a scattering of job losses around the state, that read like it could have been written by the King of Vitriol, “Angry Jack” Lindley, on a particularly bilious day.

The first slammed Bernie Sanders for unfounded allegations of complicity in the Veterans Affairs scandal. It was a classic Republican/Fox News attack: pose a damning question (“What did Bernie know and when did he know it?”) and leave it hanging. No need for evidence, see?

If indeed we’re entering a new era of vitriol-free Republicanism, a nice first step would be a press release congratulating Sen. Sanders on his statesmanlike deal with John McCain for a bipartisan bill to fix the VA.

Anything, Super Dave? No? Well, we continue.

The gist of the Times Argus piece (by Neal Goswami) is that the VTGOP is looking to “rebuild and rebrand” in 2014, after sinking “to a new low” after the 2012 election. The rebuilding, Goswami reports, will take a while; he quotes Sunderland as saying the strategy “over the next several election cycles will be to return the Republican Party in Vermont to a position of influence in public policy.” Which is a nice way of saying “We’ve fallen into complete irrelevance.”

This year’s effort aims to make some “incremental gains” in the legislature; three seats in the Senate and perhaps a dozen in the House. Sunderland as much as admits that the GOP’s statewide ticket will be full of holes, with perhaps only candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. But even so, he says 2014 can be a positive first step:

The policies of the past in the Vermont Republican Party failed and we lost elections and it got us to where we’re at now with 45 seats in the House and seven in the Senate.

… We are going to demonstrate to Vermonters that the new direction that we’re headed, the direction of a broader base, the direction that listens to Vermonters and responds to the needs and concerns of Vermonters, that’s a direction that will win.

Goswami takes the easy way to including a voice of dissent, calling upon Darcie “Hack” Johnston, strategical uber-failure. And she is more than ready to defend the discredited tactics of the “Angry Jack” years. She claims that “Vermonters are frustrated, and are at the end of their rope with Peter Shumlin’s policies.” Which just shows you that she’s still listening only to Vermonters within her social circle. Certainly Shumlin’s numbers have declined since the heydays of the  post-Irene recovery, but “at the end of their rope” and ready to support hard-line conservatism? Not at all.

Johnston also, presumably without irony, laments the fact that “the party lacks candidates and lacks resources to fund the candidates they have,” without mentioning that it was she and her like-minded colleagues who reduced the VTGOP to its current parlous state. It’s because of the Republican dead-enders that so many business leaders have lined up behind Shumlin. It’s because of her tactical twin brother from another mother, Corry Bliss, that Brian Duble crapped out on his bid to succeed the popular Jim Douglas.  

Super Dave has a nice rejoinder for Johnston’s backseat driving:

“I recognize that there’s a small faction of people who want to cling to a negative, angry, vitriolic strategy that I don’t believe is good for our party, for our candidates or for the state of Vermont,” Sunderland said. “I believe that this is a group that is small and getting smaller and I don’t believe that they represent the majority of Republicans in Vermont.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Of course, I’m still waiting to see actual evidence of a new, changed, more moderate (or at least inclusive) Vermont Republican Party. But the prospect of an intra-party slap-fight, ending with Johnston et al. slinking off into the darkness, made my eggs taste that much sweeter this morning.  

Well, well. Windham County is currently served by two Democratic state senators: the very able Jeanette White and the execrable Peter “The Slummin’ Solon” Galbraith, a.k.a. The Most Hated Man In The Senate.

(His latest offenses, ICYMI: being a persistent thorn in Governor Shumlin’s side on single-payer health care; being so relentlessly bull-headed about campaign finance that he blocked a minor technical change in this year’s bill; and taking up a good portion of the Senate’s closing days with an extended peroration on health care reform, which wasn’t even on the very crowded agenda at the time. And which caused the Senate chamber to empty out, with his colleagues seeking the relative solace of the bustling hallway.)

And yet, two more Democrats have stepped into the race — a very unusual turn of events.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with rumors that the Democratic Party has been loudly whispering “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” within earshot of potential candidates from the southeast. Yeah, just a coincidence. I’m sure the Party will do all it can to subvert support The Most Hated Man’s re-election bid. (He might just have to dig into his fossil fuel fortune again, as he did four years ago when he pretty much bought the seat by spending $50,000 on his own campaign.)

The latest entry is Becca Balint of Brattleboro, an educator and consultant who sits on the town’s Development Review Board and is a Town Meeting representative. Her interests, per the Brattleboro Reformer, center on developing the southeast’s economy by emphasizing its existing strengths: green jobs, mental health services, and the cultural economy, plus improving high-speed Internet access.

Previously announcing was Joan Bowman of Putney. She moved to Vermont only four years ago, but has jumped into the deep end of the activist pool by getting involved with multiple community organizations and serving as a navigator for Vermont Health Connect. Her primary issue, per the Reformer, is single-payer health care.

Both candidates, of course, say their entries have nothing to do with opposing the incumbents; they simply want to engage in a discussion of the issues facing the county and Vermont.

This might be the most interesting primary in the entire Democratic Party field. I look forward to an informative, reasoned, issue-oriented debate, and/or fireworks.  

Hey, remember Corry Bliss? The guy who helped make Peter Shumlin our Governor by managing the Brian Dubie campaign into the ground? The guy last seen in Connecticut, squandering Linda McMahon’s pro-wrestling millions in a losing bid for a U.S. Senate seat?

Welp, I just Googled him, and guess what? He’s continuing the grand Republican campaign consultant tradition of failing upward. Following his latest sortie in Georgia (running an early favorite to a third-place finish), his record as a campaign manager is now a spectacular 0-7.

Makes Darcie Johnston look like David Axelrod, doesn’t he?

Let’s review some of the highlights of Bliss’ dismal career.

His disastrous management of McMahon’s campaign prompted this post-mortem by former Republican Congressman Chris Shays:

Corry Bliss… basically left Vermont in shambles, and he’s leaving Connecticut in shambles. But he’s got more money. He made more money.

Full disclosure: Shays had lost the Republican primary to McMahon’s millions before she went on to lose the general election. But Shays is certainly spot-on about Vermont in shambles; the VTGOP has never come close to recovering from Dubie’s loss. And who turned Jim Douglas’ right-hand man into a loser? VTDigger’s Anne Galloway:

Bliss has transformed Dubie through ads and press releases from the aw-shucks nice guy Vermonters generally liked into a candidate who has appeared to misrepresent the truth. …The campaign’s strategy in forums and debates, through bitter attacks on his opponent more than an explanation of Dubie’s own policy initiatives, has appeared to be a relentless attempt to characterize Democrat Peter Shumlin as untrustworthy and unethical.

So yeah, I’d say “shambles” is a fair assessment of Bliss’ impact on Vermont.

After the jump: failure upon failure, unto the present day.

Three of Bliss’ failures have been in his home state of Virginia. His first came in 2008 two years after he graduated from law school: he managed the unsuccessful re-election campaign of Republican Congresswoman Thelma Drake. In 2011, he ran the campaign of State Senate candidate John Stirrup. Bliss immediately began producing extremely negative campaign materials which destroyed the image of Stirrup as a nice guy. Sound familiar?

Then came his fruitless raid on McMahon’s bankbook. After that, Bliss went back to Virginia and somehow got himself hired by Joe May, a five-term incumbent in the House of Delegates with — wait for it — a “good guy” reputation. Guess what? May lost the Republican primary. By fifteen percentage points. And Bliss’ “nasty, vicious, dark” campaign tactics have been blamed.

This year, Bliss continued his untarnished-by-victory record as campaign manager for Karen Handel, former Georgia Secretary of State and one of seven candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.  A late April poll had Handel in a virtual tie for first place. Unfortunately, that didn’t last; she ran third in the May 20 primary, earning 22% of the vote. (The top two finishers, David Perdue and Jack Kingston, with 31% and 26% respectively, are competing in a runoff.) According to a Politico post-mortem, Handel fell short because “she failed to raise enough cash to compete with Kingston and Perdue in the expensive Atlanta media markets.” I guess Corry should restrict himself to self-funding gazillionaires in the future.

I dunno what Bliss’ next move will be. If there’s any justice — or any collective sanity among Republican candidates — it won’t be politics. In fact, to prepare for his next career, I’d suggest practicing the line, “Welcome to Subway. May I take your order?”  

Wow, it’s the second week of June already. Summertime is upon us…and so is the filing deadline for Vermont candidates. June 12, it is. One week from yesterday, it is.

David Sunderland, I’m guessing, is frantically working the phones trying to find Republicans to fill out his statewide ticket. Or, he’s thrown in the towel and is planning a long weekend of slammin’ the Bud Light and wondering why he ever took Phil Scott’s call in the first place.

But something more significant than impotent Republican flailing is going on. That would be John Bauer’s effort to qualify for public financing in his run for Lieutenant Governor. His deadline is also June 12. A reminder: he needs at least 750 donations — of less than $50 apiece — to qualify for a pot of public financing that would make him financially competitive with Phil Scott.

Plus, if he makes it, it’d be a significant victory for the concept of public financing. It’d say that an energetic hopeful with good ideas can earn enough scratch to mount a solid campaign, which is the purpose of the public option. That alone is worthy of support, but Bauer himself is also worthy.

He’s been working hard, traveling the state, speaking to anyone who will listen. Still, he’ll need a strong push to qualify; 750 is a challenge.

The work continues. Indeed, I got a call yesterday from a Bauer volunteer. I had to tell him I’d already donated… but since then I’ve learned that family members, including spouses, count towards the goal. So I’ll give ten more bucks in my loyal spouse’s name, and we’ll count for two.  

Bauer would make a strong candidate, but he doesn’t have deep pockets. He needs the public financing. He’s articulate, engaging, and he’s full of good ideas on making Vermont a better place for everyone, especially working folks. Read my earlier report here, or visit Bauer’s website for more.  

You can donate online via ActBlue, reachable through Bauer’s website. Or send a check to John Bauer for Vermont, PO Box 454, Jeffersonville VT 05464.

And remember, because of the public financing rules, a small contribution is truly meaningful. He’s gotten donations as small as $1, and the maximum is $50.

Postscript. Yes, I know that Progressive Dean Corren is also pushing for public financing, and I wish him well. But I’ve met John Bauer and I like him and his ideas, so he’s my guy. Plus, talking realpolitik, a Democrat would be better-positioned to give Scott a run for his money than a Prog, if only because of internal party organization. And Bauer is a very progressive fellow, so there isn’t much separating him from Corren in policy terms.

But if you prefer Corren, that’s fine by me. I’d urge everyone to give a donation to either guy, just for the purposes of boosting the public financing concept. We liberals spend a lot of time and energy bemoaning the influence of big money in politics; this is a rare opportunity to do something about it. And it’s a pretty darn simple thing to do.