( – promoted by odum)

Many of you received my conciliatory note of concession in the primary race for Lieutenant Governor last night; and of course you must know that my inbox was full this morning.  With so many folks sending me the love, I would like to offer a sincere, gentlemanly bow from the waist and tip of the hat for the honor of sharing the stage in a statewide campaign. 

Also, to allay anyone's concerns that I may be down in the dumps today, rest assured of this fact:  over the last few years through our vigorous discussions here on GMD I have learned to wear a thick skin, not take things personally, and keep up the good fight.  Today I'm actually a little more rested than I have been in weeks and I'm very proud of my run in respect to the way we raised the issues and the firm positions we took.  This success belongs to you folks, too.  Through Green Mountain Daily and Vermont Daily Briefing and in direct conversations with some of you folks in particular, I have learned a wealth of information and a bit more political savvy than I could have possessed without my participation here.

I would especially like thank those who sent along a bit of cash, sound advice, and a kind word about the campaign along to their friends.  If you don't get a personal card from me immediately, don't worry, it's coming.

But now it's time to get back to work.  There are a couple of concepts I delivered over the last few weeks that may be useful to call up from time to time when the associated issues arise, and I'd like to offer these once again for everyone to claim as their own or hash out in support of better solutions.

As winter approaches, and we appear to be faced with more climate weirdness – this year in the form of colder, wetter weather in the north country – people around the state are starting to fill in for the failures of our republican governor and president with local community action.

One example: next month there will be an energy festival in Bradford.

“We are all becoming alarmed about the high costs of heating oil and gasoline prices, affecting both our pocket books and our environment,” said Bradford Energy Committee co-chair Sandy Price. “We know there are alternatives to petroleum out there, and interest is definitely building in our community to find other ways to meet our energy needs, in our homes, our businesses and in all areas of our daily lives,” she said.

Details are below the fold.

This is a model that can be repeated throughout the state to help ordinary Vermonters figure out how to cope this winter.

I have to call attention to one tidbit that caught my eye: there will be valet bicycle parking! How cool is that? Plus the first 50 bicyclists to arrive at the fair will receive a free tote bag.

How are other communities planning to handle the coming winter? Are there cool projects planned in your neck of the woods? Please share!

In Bradford, the energy committee, conservation committee, local residents and businesses joined together to try to help the local community face the coming winter. From their efforts, they’ve created the 1st Annual Local Energy Alternatives Festival (LEAF).

Where: The LEAF event will take place throughout downtown Bradford, VT: all along Main Street, in the Bradford Academy building, in the Old Church Community Theater, and at Denny Park.

When: Saturday, October 4, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., rain or shine.

Free and open to the public

Organizers you will learn how to reduce your use of petroleum and increase your consumption of locally made products and food – which will save on energy costs, help family farms, and help save jobs in the local economy.

There will be workshops about the basics of solar hot water and electricity; efficient wood heating; home heating safety; sustainable living; building a greenhouse to generate heat and year-round food; and preparing and preserving natural foods. There will be a farmer’s market featuring locally grown foods and local crafts.

Debra Sachs will speak at 10:00 a.m. on the Bradford Academy stage. Sachs is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Climate Action in Burlington, Vermont; past President of the Vermont Planners Association in Montpelier; past Director of the Alliance for Climate Action in Burlington; and co-author of the 2006 Energy and Climate Action Guide. She speaks frequently around New England about energy issues and the environment.

Two “solar” tours will showcase local homes and businesses that use alternative energy sources for electricity and hot water – one tour in the morning and one in the afternoon. To save energy, visitors are encouraged to sign up for one of the two bus rides to the sites rather than driving separately.

People able to do so are encouraged to bike to the festival – the first 50 bicyclists will receive a free tote bag donated by Hills 5 & 10 of Bradford.  Valet bicycle parking will be provided by the Bradford Parks & Recreation Commission in conjunction with the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition.

A short movie will be shown several times in The Old Church Theater: The Story of Stuff is an entertaining, 15-minute animated film that explains why we cannot buy our way out of our environmental problems.

A complete schedule will be available at the festival.

LEAF is funded by the Bradford Conservation Commission with support from the Byrne Foundation and the Corinth Conservation Commission.  

Booth space is available for energy vendors, local artisans, and sustainability-related organizations – contact co-chair Ed Wendell at 222-4657 for more information.

(Cross posted at Broadsides.org)

Ah, there’s nothing like a threat to Wall Street bankers that brings socialism front and center to America’s politics. With one, big “never mind” when it came to all their rhetoric about “free markets,” the glories and fairness of capitalism, and rugged individualism, Republicans and Democrats joined for a sloppy embrace and a gigantic tax-payer bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last weekend.

Citizens take note: You know it’s prime fleecing season when both political parties, both houses of Congress, both presidential candidates and almost all of the mainstream media join together to provide a blank check to two banking institutions in financial trouble. And how quickly they acted! With one seemingly magical statement by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the bankers’ worries were over. Viola! And, suddenly, the same government that only days before during the political conventions was being called big and bad was now essential to the well being of the nation. Imagine that.

But those of us with our thinking caps on and even a semi-functioning memory (thanks Google), will recall all the hemming and hawing from those same political parties, presidential candidates and members of the media when the mortgage crisis was primarily hurting the homeowners – not the lenders (yet). Back then, the words from Washington were all about tough love and tough luck, with nary a quick action or bailout in sight.

But then the mortgage crisis started to trickle up, making the bankers nervous and, finally, vulnerable. And then the Adam Smith-like lectures were tossed to the side and out came a surreal Marxian-like plan to – huh? — “save the bankers!”  Yes, indeed, bankers of the world, unite!

If, however, there is to be any true banker reunion in all this, it needs to be held in the courthouses and, eventually, the prisons. Because if the $30 million in salary and bonuses the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were giving themselves – and themselves alone – just last year while millions of men, women and children were getting the boot from their homes isn’t illegal, I’m not sure what is. But don’t hold your breath while waiting for one of the political parties to run with that idea. Bankers are great campaign contributors, you know. And even better lobbyists.

Both parties have totally and completely dropped the ball on this mortgage crisis, sitting idly while families were evicted from their homes and failing to act until the moneyed elite started to feel the heat. The Bush administration might have been running the show but the Democratically-controlled Congress was nodding with approval and/or sleep all along the way.

It was the Democrats, for example, who handed Bush and Paulson the blank check and authority to manage this crisis in July. And now, proving once again that they have no shame, it’s those same Democrats who are crying foul over how Bush and Paulson are using the power that they gave them. Hmm, sound familiar? Hint: Think Iraq.

Here’s how the New York Times (9.9.08) reported on Senator Christopher Dodd’s (D-CT) reaction to Paulson’s handling of the crisis:

“We accepted [Paulson] at his word that all he needed was the authority and that he wasn’t going to exercise it. Then he used his authority very aggressively,” an angry-sounding Mr. Dodd said in a telephone conference call with reporters. He indicated that he would approach any future commitments by the outgoing administration more skeptically.

“Fool me once, your fault,” he said. “Fool me twice, my fault.”

He’s joking, right? Wrong. Sorry, Mr. Dodd, but you’ve been fooled a hell of a lot more times than twice. I mean, doesn’t his above quote sound exactly like the Democrats’ talking points when it came to the Iraq War? As in: We gave Bush the authority but we didn’t think he was going to use it. In fact, the same thing could be said about the Patriot Act, FISA, vote counting and so, so much more.

Oh, Mr. Dodd, we only wish you and yours had only been fooled twice.

But don’t expect this new-found socialism streak to last long. Well, unless some other economic trouble rocks the millionaires. Yep, in America, socialism is for the rich. While the rest of us will keep getting the free market lectures and fighting for the policy crumbs that happen to fall off their table.

It’s hard to unseat incumbents everywhere, but especially in Vermont. And yet, that’s precisely what was going on in some of the few House primary races up for consideration last night.

And there’s no mistaking the message. The first Douglas veto override attempt of last biennium – the early April budgetary adjustment that Douglas shot down for the pettiest of partisan reasons – failed (and in doing so, set the pace for the next override attempts). The two members of the Democratic Caucus who enabled that failure lost in contested primaries last night. Jon Anderson’s loss was expected, but Ron Allard – the biggest thorn in the Democratic leadership’s side – not only went down unexpectedly, but went down big. Let’s be clear, his replacement is no progressive. We’re a long way from that in Franklin County. But the fact is that Allard had nothing in common with any Dem on any issue, and actively ignored even the most basic calls for party unity when it really counted (and when his fellow conservatives in the caucus stepped up to the plate).

And the voters resoundingly stated that this was going too far.

The St Albans Town/Fairfield voters decided they may be conservative, but they aren’t Republicans, and clearly they finally decided that Allard was. It may look like a baby step, but it’s really a seismic shift – and one has to wonder if Allard will follow through on his threat to run as an Indy, given the clear rejection by his nominal party.

Equally seismic is the loss of Bill Keogh in Burlington. Allard, I held out some hope for unseating, but I never thought that Burlington author Suzi Wizowaty had a chance at unseating Keogh, who is among the most institutional candidates you will find. The fact is that his district in the south end has been gradually but steadily moving further to the left, and it has finally moved far enough to leave this archetypal Blue-Dog Dem behind. With Keogh’s loss, it’s fair to say we’re looking at a mini-wave – a trend that we can build on.

So, congratulations to Mary Hooper in Montpelier, Suzi Wizowaty in Burlington and “Moose” Christie in St. Albans Town. Three new faces of an evolving Democratic Party.

The first story from last night is the Lieutenant Governor’s race. When my wife told me that she’d gone to the polls in Montpelier (right in Freeman’s backyard) and seen Costello visibility (lawn signs, a volunteer holding a sign) and nothing from Freeman, I knew the jig was up. Costello is based in Windham County, but he made sure to have someone up here – and visibility in some key spots in a race where neither candidate has name recognition is worth quite a few percentage points right there.

Costello was able to raise a little money and translate that into a Whitman’s Sampler of the basics of campaigns – some mail, some field work (visibility), and some volunteer coordination, and he did that by staffing up immediately. Freeman, who among the two had the lowest name recognition, depended largely on trying to get his campaign to go “viral” (which there just wasn’t time for) and was doing much of the campaign work himself.

And it’s a shame, because – even though I was staying out of it so I could get both candidates here to pitch themselves – it’ll be no surprise that I was rooting for Nate. Nate stepped up to the plate when the Party regulars weren’t and the rank and file were feeling more than a little humiliated by that abdication of responsibility. The Dem establishment’s response (and that is what we’re talking about in this case) was, of course, to freak out and find what they considered a “real” candidate. The problem is, as absurdly late as he got into the race, I’m still not convinced that Costello was ever meant to be anything other than the “stop Freeman” candidate of an embarrassed establishment.

So now – if we’re to have even a remote chance of preventing a return engagement for Brian Dubie – we’re going to have to do what we can to make him something more than that. Costello got the nod, and that means he has a responsibility to all of us to do everything he can to win, and not just be a ballot-line placeholder.

Truth in context,contextual reality.The Washington Post explores the nature of facts and wrestles oddly with nature of reality.With the McCain/Palin ticket it finds facts are less important than dominant themes to McCain but…attempting equilibrium here they find Obama may exaggerate. At least an exaggeration starts with the truth. Repeating an “untrue” fact is most often,in reality considered a lie.  

As Campaign Heats Up, Untruths Can Become Facts Before They’re Undone

As the presidential campaign moves into a final, heated stretch, untrue accusations and rumors have started to swirl at a pace so quick that they become regarded as fact before they can be disproved. A number of fabrications about Palin’s policies and personal life, for instance, have circulated on the Internet since she joined the Republican ticket.

..John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said the campaign is entering a stage in which skirmishes over the facts are less important than the dominant themes that are forming voters’ opinions of the candidates.

..”The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there’s a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she’s new, she’s popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent,” Feehery said. “As long as those are out there, these little facts don’t really matter.”

Nevertheless, with McCain’s standing in the polls surging, aides say he is not about to back down from statements he believes are fundamentally true, such as the anecdote about the bridge.

Lying works for them,win at all cost worry about the facts later.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

It was awful.

The hallucinations at the end were frightening.

There were horrifying sights & sounds.

I could swear there were smells (was I being gassed in my own room?), but no one else seemed to notice or care.  My skin felt like it was constantly being crawled over/under by insects, worms, or worse, sentient intruders.

I had convulsive seizures. No matter where I looked, it looked like a window shade had suddenly sprung open and bright light was blinding me.

From the years of Goldwater/Reagan conservatives until the Bush neocons, I  and all those years years of mainlining battery acid and slathering the insides of my nostrils with airplane glue, the shock of court-ordered institutional detox was one of the worst experiences of my life.

But I gotta' tell you, once I kicked the drugs and left the hospital, I never voted Republican again!

UPDATE #1: WASH-5: Anderson out. The Times Argus is reporting that Rep. Jon Anderson has lost his primary re-election bid to Rep. Warren Kitzmiller and Montpelier Mayor Mary Hooper. Hooper was the top vote getter (900), Kitzmiller came in at 829 and Anderson at 583 despite reports of city Republicans openly admitting to bullet voting for him on the Dem ballot (these are unofficial results). Also, Anderson only received 19 write-ins on R ballots, meaning he won’t be the Republican candidate either (the threshold was 25).

UPDATE #2: Welch beats Hill. Duh.

UPDATE #3: WCAX reports at 8:20 that 30 of 260 precincts (12 percent) have reported in, giving Costello 60% and Freeman 40% – of course that’s only 1450 and 978 votes respectively, but I just heard that there are similar results coming in from Franklin County towns. Also, I am told that Costello won in Montpelier (although not by much), and frankly, if Freeman couldn’t take Montpelier, with its higher turnout than most of the state (due to the House primary), liberal-leaning electorate, and being practically Freeman’s backyard, then he’s likely not going to win this thing.

I’d have to say its probably going to be Costello by roughly the 60-40 spread we’re seeing now, possibly more.

UPDATE #4 – WCAX calls it for Costello. With 45% of the polling places reporting, its at 61% for Costello, 39% for Freeman.

UPDATE #5 – The Free Press has some early Chittenden Senate results: With 9 of the 23 precincts reporting, it stands at Doug Racine 908, Ginny Lyons 863, Ed Flanagan 776, Hinda Miller 672, Denise Barnard 611, Tim Palmer 497, Tim Ashe 426, Dennis McMahon 241, and Sean Starfighter 156.

UPDATE #6 – More from the Freeps: Richmond and Hinesburg have come in with similar numbers (although Barnard is a lot higher up in Richmond). Unless Burlington really turns it around for Ashe (given that some of the big burb towns that have yet to come in will be his weakest), it’s looking likely that the Chittenden Senate slate will be (no surprises) Racine, Lyons, Flanagan, Miller, Barnard and Palmer.

UPDATE #7 – Washington-Chittenden 1 (Waterbury, Duxbury, Huntington, Buel’s Gore) 2 seats. Jack reporting–I just got off the phone with Sue Minter from a lively celebration at The Alchemist.

Sue Minter–592

Tom Stevens–439

Gordon Miller–154

UPDATE #8 – Allard goes down in Franklin 2. It’s not a done deal yet, but it looks like the biggest Jim-Dog of them all – Ron Allard – will likely come in fourth out of four in the primary. It’s likely to be McWilliams Greg “Moose” Christie and Howrigan. McWilliams is another conservative Moose is a moderate D, but – hey – sometimes its all about baby steps. At least he’ll likely Christie will come through for the caucus when the chips are down (of course he’ll have to get past a general election with Allard on the ballot as an I, most likely). (Caoimhin UPDATE) If Moose wins in November, he’ll be easy to recognize as a freshman representative. Here is a recent picture of him:

UPDATE #9 – Ballot trouble in Burlington. Yup. Again. This time its not enough ballots in some areas and its slowing up the results.

UPDATE #10 – Windham 5: Deen and Mrowicki are the unofficial Democratic Party nominees. Christian reporting in. I just got off the phone with the Brattleboro Reformer. Here’s the vote tallies they have so far.

    David Deen: 910

    Mike Mrowicki: 818

    Steve Darrow: 521

Even though the results are still unofficial, I don’t expect them to change. I’m certain that Deen and Mrowicki will represent the Dems for Windham 5 and they will not have any Republican challengers in November. Darrow forgot to submit his candidacy on time, so voters had to write him in as a candidate. Not sure if that hurt him in the end, but I still think we’re sitting pretty with the other two.

UPDATE #11: More Demward movement in Franklin County. Dem write-in candidates Margo Sherwood in Franklin-6 & George Bilodeau in Franklin-1 have likely qualified for the general election ballots.

UPDATE #12 – Out-of-state news: Al Franken wins the DFL primary to qualify for the general election in Minnesota against Republican nonentity Norm Coleman. (Jack)

UPDATE #13 – More big blue-to-bluer news from Chittenden 3-5: Keogh is out. Challenger Suzi Wizowaty has unseated Blue Dog Bill Keogh. Wizowaty will join Joey Donovan on the Dem ballot line in November. Unexpected (and welcome) news. Definitely a big night for the “better” part of the “more and better Dems” blogosphere mantra.

UPDATE #14 – As per Rep. Nease in the comments, the results in Chittenden 3-1 are “Bill Aswad and Johanna Cole (beating Susan Wheeler by single digits).” Good news, IMO. Cole is a great candidate. Also in “Rutland 1-2 it will be David Potter and Barbara Carris.” Thanks Floyd.

UPDATE #15 – It’s Tim vs. Tim, and down to the wire in the Chittenden Dem Senate race. Surprisingly, Ashe has moved a scant 12 votes ahead of Palmer with only Burlington left to come in. The Prog city councilor running as a D may actually pull it off, and pull that #6 slot out from under Palmer…

And with that, I’m going to bed. Perhaps commenters or other GMD front pagers can keep the updates coming (or not)…

UPDATE #16 Chittenden Senate-Does anyone else think it’s ridiculous that the polls closed more than twelve hours ago and we still don’t know what happened in Burlington? Jack

Post ’em as you get ’em, and I’ll do the same.

First of all, a few belated GMD shout outs: Not only did our own JDRyan get hitched this last weekend, but so did Welch staffer and former Dem Party ED Jon Copans to lobbyist Rebecca McCarty. They even have a wedding web page. See?

Also getting birthday shout outs are our own “Vermonter” – Neil Jensen – as well as Candleblogger Bill Simmon. I think those are late shout outs as well.

And of course, a big shout out to Essex Junction uberblogger Steve Benen for hitting the even-bigger time by appearing on Rachel Maddow’s new MSNBC show on its first night yesterday. Unfortunately I missed it, but I think we all look forward to seeing Steve become an MSNBC regular and coming to blows with Pat Buchanan.

Okay, I’m hoarse from all the shout outs…. back to the Primary…

I’ve been trying to figure which of the Lite Gov candidates gains more from the contested primaries. Overall, turnout will be dreadful – and it doesn’t sound like local primary contests will drive up voting in those areas more than 10% or so. Still, every vote counts, and Freeman definitely benefits from the increased turnout in Montpelier, while Costello may benefit from the Franklin County bounce. It doesn’t sound like the two-and-half-way race (with former Rep Darrow going for a write in) in Windham-5 will drive up votes that Costello could bank on.

The big question is Chittenden, which may benefit Freeman a bit. The turnout spike will be centered in two Burlington districts that are not as far left as we think of Burlington as being, but this is primary voters we’re talking about. Many of the reliable voters in those districts are fairly loyal to the Party as an institution, which helps “institutional” candidate Costello, but I suspect any spike above and beyond that base may equal a net gain for outsider Freeman – although probably not by much. We’ll see.

Per today’s Rutland Herald:

A Dorset man, who told the court he does not recognize the right of the state to require a driver’s license, was arraigned on Monday after police said he hit a Manchester Police officer with his car while trying to escape a traffic stop.

[…]

Armstrong, who gave his name in a court filing as Claude-Emerson..Armstrong, did not enter a plea on any of the charges. Judge John Wesley said under the circumstance, the state would assume Armstrong was pleading not guilty and entered that plea on Armstrong’s behalf.

During a court hearing, Armstrong referred to himself as a “sovereign citizen” and asked the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s office to produce any contract between himself and the state of Vermont.

I wonder if this could get me out of paying off my student loans.

(I thought we should bump this back up to the top.  Does anyone know where to get primary results online? – promoted by JulieWaters)

Waddaya think? Last time I was involved in a bet with Philip Baruth, Shay Totten and Neil Jensen as to the results of the Lite Gov Dem primary, and I cleaned up on free beer – this time I have no clue. There’s been so little interest in the race (as demonstrated by the GMD polls: two years ago our online Tracy v. Dunne poll had 171 voters, but the one to the right has a scant 34 votes despite the fact that our traffic is twice what it was two years ago).

What about the other races? Franklin-2? Washington-5? Rutland-3? How about Chittenden 3-1 or Chittenden 3-5? Chittenden Senate? Republican and Progressive write-in attempts?

Hey, we take our drama where we can get it.