The national blogosphere is all a-twitter with the news that the DNC is announcing the first round of blogs that will receive credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in Denver - including being seated with their respective state delegations. We're happy to announce that GMD has received the honor of being the officially credentialed blog for Vermont. Expect lots of coverage, both text and A/V over the length of the convention.
Mark Johnson needlessly gotten caught in the crossfire when I unloaded on Mr. Pollina (currently on Vermont Edition, again promoting his campaign by complaining about Democrats... seems to be the only "issue" he's really passionate about in the last week). It seems Johnson really is hearing from many prominent Democrats that there may be interest in the legislative option in a three-way race, and isn't just shorthanding GMD as "The Democrats" (although "some Democrats" still would have been a more accurate and appropriate phrasing). All I can say is: wow. That's a 180 degree turnaround from what I was hearing.
Of course, Johnson did lead the chorus of very serious experts (which also included Terri Hallenbeck and Shay Totten) pooh-poohing the entire possibility out of hand on Vermont This Week last Friday, and has really latched onto the issue - even pushing Gaye Symington for a commitment to oppose the idea after her announcement speech (and reading way too much into her non-response: Here's reality - no candidate with half a brain is going to get pulled into the specifics of any issue right after their announcement speech, lest they end up inadvertently eclipsing the positive message the whole announcement was designed to transmit.)
So I've made a couple more inquiries - and the landscape may indeed be changing on this issue, in no small part from the discussions at this site. Good. Now Anthony Pollina may currently be running around BSing Vermonters by insisting its a bad idea that he never approved of himself in 2000 or 2002 (which, by all accounts, is a naked fib), but the fact is that he was right, and folks like me were wrong. Now the question is for Mr. Pollina, is truth and what's best for Vermont really of less importance than saying whatever pops into your mind to bash Democrats? Based on your media interviews in the last week and the content at the Prog Blog, that's sure how it looks.
As for the very serious experts... I've only proposed the idea predicated on the ability of Dems to propagate the message in an IRV-style context over a long period to gain acceptance - and stated outright that it works much better if the third place candidate buys in and agrees to endorse the second place finisher in the event that happens. I'm not an idiot.
But as far as shorthanding Johnson's advocacy of his strong feelings against such an approach as "lazy," apparently it wasn't, as my info was stale. My apologies.
Tell you what - I'll make it up to you by phoning in reports to your show from the floor of the Democratic National Convention if you don't make it (see above diary)....
Staff shakeups and switcheroos have begun, with session's end marking the unofficial kickoff of the full bore campaign season in Vermont.
First to go was Adam Quinn, Finance Director for the Vermont Democratic Party, and a veteran of statewide campaigns in Vermont and Montana (Quinn has been picked up as the new National Field Director for Democracy for America). Following on his heels is the departure of VDP Executive Director Jill Krowinski to manage the Symington campaign. Joining her on the all-but-guaranteed Democratic nominee's campaign will be Drew Hudson, former Communications Director for VPIRG, and most recently with MoveOn.org.
Over in the Lieutenant Governor contest, former columnist Peter Freyne has been active in the preliminaries of as-yet-unannounced candidate Deb Richter's campaign, and word is he will be onboard the formal operation in an official capacity (as to a "professional" capacity, who knows... the fact is, Lite Guv campaigns in Vermont don't usually have budgetary capacity for multiple staffers, and its hard to imagine Freyne as a full-blown campaign manager, as opposed to a communications person. We'll see.)
Instead, let's focus on the other possible slogans the GOP could have picked. ASD has a list of registered slogans that provide all sorts of alternate possibilities:
I like EMLA's "numbs the pain," because it accurately reflects the short-term effect of us all getting drunk and crying into our drinks should McCain win in November.
Francis is one of the roughly 130 women in the Vermont prison system who will spend Mother's Day separated from their children. For Francis and many jailed mothers, their challenge, beyond staying sober and not reoffending, is maintaining their parental bonds and making sure they remain intact after their release.
With the female prison population in Vermont having grown exponentially in the past 10 years, more women are finding themselves in Francis' position - struggling to be good mothers while behind bars.
The article goes on to note that many of the mothers who are in jail are there for crimes related to substance abuse problems and I'm at the point where I question whether or not jail does these women or their families any good. I'm not arguing for a removal of the prison system, but I am wondering if drug-related crimes might be better dealt with through treatment facilities with an active interest in, when possible and appropriate, keeping families together.
There will be something like 600-plus delegates pledged to Obama at the Vermont Democratic Party's State Convention in Barre on May 24. Of those, 110 are declared candidates for the six open district-level slots to represent Vermont's Obama voters at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. If every candidate gets two minutes of air time, that's three-plus hours of listening to impassioned people say, "I'm just so fired up, and I've worked so hard to get here."
So I heard an interesting take this evening at our County Committee meeting. A young woman who worked the phones, stood in the cold at the honk & waves, and brought the signs to the Maple Fest Parade, told us why she wanted to go to Denver to help nominate Barack Obama. She's biracial, moved here despite her family's concern that she would be terribly isolated in the whitest state in the US, and she wants to show the rest of the country that there's more to Vermont than skiing, ice cream, and being the whitest state in the country.
(Updated due to current announcement. - promoted by JulieWaters)
Just got this rather spartan PR from the Dems:
Symington to make Announcement
Montpelier, VT - Gaye Symington will make an announcement at the Statehouse on Monday, May 12.
WHEN: Monday, May 12 - 10 a.m.
WHERE: Vermont Statehouse Steps
Three guesses what that announcement's gonna be.
UPDATED: Symington is making it official right at this moment. You can stream the audio of it right now (live stream of the speech, which will be just WDEV radio once the speech is over) at this link --julie
This video clip is spreading around the blogosphere like a wildfire. It's some old footage of Bill O'Reilly on Inside Edition, a cheesy 90's tabloid show.
Watch how Bill O' reacts when he can't read the teleprompter.
Back when I was supporting Edwards, one of my major concerns with Obama was in his support for "clean coal." I wrote about it at the time, over at Green Mountain Daily. Here's what I wrote:
There's a great diary over at MyDD which outlines some serious problems with an energy bill which is cosponsored by Obama. The first is a bill to support liquid coal. From the diary:
We don't know how to sequester mass quantities of carbon dioxide created during coal liquefaction yet. Even once we figure that process out--a solution that will no doubt reduce the net energy output of the coal to fuel process itself--we've still got a dirty fuel that increases greenhouse emissions compared to petroleum.
There's also a draft bill up for discussion that includes a provision which will screw us, as Vermonters, over, along with a lot of other states.
