I had some screwy setting – or something – on my borrowed camera. Everything's blurry and the lighting is a disaster. You'll have to wait for better pictures from smarter people, but in the meantime, here's a few for the curious…

JDRyan teaches Anthony Pollina to play “Rock Scissors Paper.”

“Where's that fifty bucks you owe me?!?”

House Majority Whip Floyd Nease agrees to cede Plainfield to wdh3's Anarchist Collective.

Philip made the five loaves, two fishes and three Bud Lights go a long way.

Kevin Leahy was feeling a little blurry.

In light of the Obama event on the beach – and after announcing publicly that Obama is talking too “white” – the Nader campaign dispatches one of its ethnicity experts to help set him on the right track.

Yesterday, Pollina nails Douglas to the wall in a well crafted, pointed attack that got the press and the media’s attention:

Pollina cited the 2008 “Summer Harvest” publication by the Agency of Agriculture in which Roger Albee, secretary of the agency, says that Gov. James Douglas “initiated” the “Buy Local movement” in 2003.

“This is ridiculous,” Pollina said during a press conference outside the Agency of Agriculture’s State Street headquarters Wednesday morning. “The idea that Jim Douglas founded the buy-local movement ranks right up there with the idea that Al Gore invented the Internet.”

Unfortunately, this is Anthony Pollina we’re talking about. And that means he fired off without care to the consequences – by which I mean, he didn’t bother with such trivialities as covering his ass. Such concerns are for lesser men, I suppose. Via vtbuzz:

Thursday, Enid Wonnacott, NOFA-Vermont’s longtime executive director, told PolitickerVt’s Zach Silber that Pollina’s comments were and “severe exaggeration” and that Douglas and his Ag folks had been “incredibly helpful” in promoting the buy local effort.

Wonnacott agreed that the buy local movement has been around for a long time, but said Douglas deserves credit for having the Ag Dept. institute a Buy Local Program in 2003.

Final analysis? Douglas’s damage control is effective, but the slam still very effectively reminded people that Douglas is both an obstructionist, as well as someone who shamelessly takes credit for the work of others. You can’t unring that bell.

But Pollina too, has been left bloodied, as the response has reminded those who pay close attention (many of whom are in that Prog-Dem distortion zone) that he’s a bit of a bull in a china shop, and doesn’t question his communications impulses. Both have had their credibility drawn into public question.

So oddly enough, the winner here is Symington, who wasn’t even involved. Or at least it could be if she gets out a “we need to move beyond tit-for-tats over who has bragging rights and recognize that we need to come together to do much more for Vermonters’ economic sustainability and supporting our local economies” statement, or somesuch.

An odd sidenote, though, are Sam Hemingway’s comments over at vtbuzz. For someone following politics for so long, Hemingway has a tendency to miss the forest for the trees. He comments:

Exactly how Pollina sees this as a front-burner issue in the gubernatorial campaign is a discussion for another day.

Given the evidence all around (by which I mean the coverage in all the media, and that quick, powerful pushback from the Governor), it would seem self-evident that this dustup is quite meaningful. I mean… Hemingway himself is clearly feeling obliged to cover it, right?

But Hemingway’s problem is that he doesn’t see what’s in play. It’s not the overwhelming power of the issue that’s being discussed – I think its very important, but it’s not likely to resonate as deeply as it should with the greater populace. The importance is the opportunity to reinforce the nascent narrative that Douglas is an ineffective phony – or in the Governor’s case, that Pollina is an attack dog ideologue. It’s those narrative impressions that drive the lingering undecideds in the voting booth, therefore winning or losing an election. Not sure why Hemingway doesn’t get that.

(… and BTW, today my recommendation from the Langdon Street Cafe is the Tempeh Reuben. No doubt that advice will boost my left-wing cred all by itself.)

Yesterday’s news caught me very much by surprise. It also left me feeling a knot in the pit of my stomach:

Rep. Robert Dostis will not only leave the Legislature behind this year, but also his job for the last 14 years as the executive director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

Dostis, a 49-year-old Waterbury Democrat who has served in the Vermont House since 2000, will leave the Burlington nonprofit organization next month to take a management position with Green Mountain Power.

I like Robert, so I’m not trying to give him a hard time, but this news does beg a serious question. Dostis has been serving as Chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee – a Committee that has direct say over policies that impact Green Mountain Power, the state’s second largest power utility company – like no other. Common sense makes clear that this move has been in the works for some time, and it doesn’t help that its a still-largely undefined position, nebulously dubbed the “Director of Customer Service and External Relations.”

Certainly at the federal level, there are laws restricting such revolving doors between powerful legislators and the businesses that they had direct impact on. Obviously the concern there is hanky-panky and the worry about quid-pro-quo lucrative contracts acting as payoffs for way-too-cozy relationships. Washington, however, has to deal directly with full-on corruption, and Vermont is a whole different scale and not directly comparable. There’s also the fact that having a part time “citizen legislture” as we do might make it needlessly punitive to put laws in place restricting the jobs a former legislator can take. It’s really not an apples-to-apples thing.

But there’s still no denying that it doesn’t look good. To a person, everyone I’ve talked to about it has reacted anywhere from simply somewhat nauseous to openly shocked. It looks untoward, and makes people immediately and reflexively question Dostis himself, and the system which allows this.

And its that latter piece that concerns me. As I said, I’m confident at a personal level that Robert is a straight-shooter (but I can’t blame people who don’t know him for wondering). But the appearence of a revolving door brings down faith in the entire system. While it may not be enough of a problem for actual legislation, it may be time for the Democratic caucus to consider a code of ethics that openly discourages such high-profile, sudden leaps that create retroactive conflicts of interest. In tiny, community-oriented Vermont, that would probably be enough right there to discourage this sort of confidence-damaging legislative exit in the future.

It’ll officially be a Democratic primary between Representatives Warren Kitzmiller and Jon Anderson, and challenger Mary Hooper, who also serves as Montpelier Mayor, as of tomorrow (Saturday the 28th). Hooper will formally announce her campaign at the Montpelier Farmer’s Market at 10:30 AM. Hooper has said she will make “food and fuel” the centerpieces of her message, as she has been active with anti-hunger groups, as well as the Montpelier energy committee.

Hooper is backed by senior district Representative Kitzmiller, and has the tacit – if not formalized – support of most of the Democratic Party infrastructure, as Jim Douglas campaign contributor Anderson was appointed to the post after the retirement of longtime Representative Francis Brooks against the wishes of the local Democratic Party, and proceeded to embarrass the caucus by voting to uphold a key Douglas veto.

Anderson has been up and running for a while, moving hard left during the session to stay competitive in this bluest of blue districts. He’s had a campaign website for some time, and the city is getting peppered of late with his lawn signs (never mind that they’re the world’s worst lawn signs… full of fine print and a photo, making it impossible for passing motorists to read, and looking more like a contractor’s promotional sign). Hooper should dominate in the election, but that’s no excuse not to get off the stick and show voters that she’s just as serious about this as Anderson is.

It came quickly, it was to the point, it was simple and it was sound-bite punchy. The Pollina campaign’s shot to Douglas’s gut was picture perfect:

Pollina cited the 2008 “Summer Harvest” publication by the Agency of Agriculture in which Roger Albee, secretary of the agency, says that Gov. James Douglas “initiated” the “Buy Local movement” in 2003.

“This is ridiculous,” Pollina said during a press conference outside the Agency of Agriculture’s State Street headquarters Wednesday morning. “The idea that Jim Douglas founded the buy-local movement ranks right up there with the idea that Al Gore invented the Internet.”

The best thing about this is that it was an attack on Pollina’s terms. Sure it was technically a response to something from the Administration, but a response to something Douglas clearly thought would – once again – be left outside the political arena, and even if it was brought up in the context of a campaign, nobody would give a crap.

If you need proof that Pollina’s shot hurt, look no further than Douglas’s own administration, which ignores these sorts of attacks generally (especially from Pollina), but felt obliged to respond. Also note that reporters – who of late have felt the need to get a Symington quote on any election-related stories that include Pollina – didn’t bother to give her campaign a ring. It’s all Pollina.

Both campaigns should take note: even if this particular issue is forgotten in a week, the attack drew blood. Keep drawing blood and the particulars will matter less than a new picture of Douglas that gets steadily painted; that of an opportunistic, ineffective politician who is only interested in his own job security and will say whatever he thinks will help him towards that goal, whether or not its fair or even true.

And an extra note to the Symington campaign; you folks need to find a way to get your own shots like this in or you might find yourselves left out of the media playing field. Pollina still has no chance in hell of winning this thing, but I’d be willing to bet he picked up a few votes today – votes that otherwise would’ve gone to the Speaker.

Amazing.

Vermont Republican Party Chairman Rob Roper said Tuesday that he will try to get a Republican on the ballot to face (State Auditor) Salmon in the Nov. 4 election.

“We share Randy (Brock)‘s respect for the decision that Tom has made but the voters in Vermont should have the option of having someone in the office who will be on the job on day one,” Roper said. “Salmon won’t even be here when the Legislature gets back.”

No, he won’t even be here. The nerve!

Will Salmon be on vacation? No. Wild party? Still no. As you’ve probably heard, Salmon is a reservist who has been activated and is in the process of shipping out to Afghanistan. That’s why he won’t be here (although his staff is ensuring the work is getting done in his absence).

So here we have the head of the Republican Party, not making an issue of the quality of Salmon’s work or the superiority of another candidate as an Auditor, but the fact that his military service in a time of war will take him away from his office for a while, and that is itself the reason why voters should opt to fire him. Somebody might want to remind him that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) expressly prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of an individual’s service. Or maybe the head of the Vermont GOP doesn’t support the troops.

There are not enough words for “dumb” to fully describe the quality of this as election messaging.

With GOP Chair Roper practically begging to have his ass kicked, Democrats are beginning to step up to oblige.

From the Symington campaign:

It is unfortunate that Auditor Salmon’s military service is being used as a political issue. This is a time to put partisan concerns aside and show respect for his service and that of all Vermonters in the military.  I am confident he has left a capable team in place to carry out the work of the Auditor’s office.

I’m told there’s a Leahy statement too, but they only send me their stuff in spurts.

Senator Russ Feingold on the FISA capitulation, expected to be taken up by the Senate this week.

“Sen. Dodd and I and Sen. Leahy are going to do everything we can to stop this mistake”

I hope so. Reid’s running roughshod over the Judiciary Committee and his consistent procedural deference to Senator Rockefeller’s Intelligence Committee agenda on this issue is giving Vermont’s Leahy – much touted as one of the most powerful members of the Senate – the untoward appearance of being something of a floormat. What’s worse is that it hasn’t seemed to bother him much.

Here’s hoping that Feingold’s words are a precursor to Leahy getting angered into action.

CALL TO ACTION: Jane Hamsher at firedoglake is coordinating and tracking calls to Senators such as Leahy. Click here to go to the post for the number, and to plug into her call tracking system.

What a difference a week makes, eh? It was only about that long ago that I (and many others) were wondering when we would see a Symington campaign actually manifest itself. Since then, they finally launched a real website (which is even more visually accommodating and serves as a better gateway to its content and functionality than the Pollina website), which provides a window to the actual campaigning being done by the Speaker. And although there were some serious opportunities lost during her non-presence while the Governor was signing (or not signing) bills she had a hand in, her media presence has been much improved.

And the difference now that a communications apparatus is in place is not good news for Pollina. Pollina has been running and working the media (sometimes pissing them off needlessly) for some time, but if recent coverage is any indication, it would seem that reporters are now feeling obliged to get a quote from Symington everytime Pollina is referred to, making it difficult – if not impossible – for him to get a foothold in any story without having readers reminded that he is the third party pretender, and not the left wing standard-bearer in the race against Douglas. Ouch.

Clearly, as we’ve discussed ad nauseum, Symington has an even shot at forcing this thing to the legislature, where a Democratic Legislature could hand it to the second place player. But is it possible she could, you know – actually get more votes than Jim Douglas? Likely? No. Easy? No.

Possible? Remotely, but yes, it’s possible. And that puts a whole new light on this discussion.

In my previous “how they can win” diaries which focused on Anthony Pollina and Peter Galbraith, I acknowledged that I was pushing the limits of credulity, and didn’t really…well…see how what I was optimistically promoting could actually come to pass.

But a 45%-45%-10% split, with advantage Symington by a handful of votes, does not seem insane.

We always work with a dearth of polls in Vermont. At this point, we have to lean way too heavily – at least in theory – on last Fall’s poll from WCAX, which, though giving continuing high positive ratings for the Governor, >only gave him a 42% re-elect percentage.

42% is a significant number because it, not coincidentally, is basically the GOP base statewide. The clear message from this poll was that, while voters still generally like Douglas, voters beyond that Republican base are no longer convinced he is the right person for the job, and that makes him susceptible to being held to 2002 voting percentages, or maybe even lower (Douglas beat Racine in a three way race with Con Hogan, 45%-42%-10%)

Douglas was way up to 53% in a hypothetical matchup with Pollina and Galbraith, but with Galbraith’s low name recognition (and not even being a candidate), that was essentially a Douglas-Pollina-Generic Dem matchup.

So, while meaningful, it was apples and oranges, and Symington will inevitably fare better in the next poll than did Galbraith – at the expense of both Douglas and Pollina. Pollina is clearly going to perform nowhere near his peak against Shumlin in 2002. A lot of that is the staleness of the Pollina brand. 2002 was the last year he could convincingly run a “vote your hopes, not your fears” themed campaign, as that was the last election Pollina ran as a progressive/Progressive symbol of the disaffected left. He was simply “the Prog the liberal hero” in that, and his previous race. This time around, Pollina is not looked at as a proxy, he is looked at by most Vermonters as himself, and as such, they are less likely to project “their hopes” onto him without any of “their fears.” Everytime he flips on an issue, people remember. When he passes off Symington and Douglas as the same, they roll their eyes (as they do when he invites charges of hypocrisy through his high-profile endorsement of Barack Obama). And when he passes himself off as a political outsider, they just don’t buy it.

All this adds up to a 15% ceiling, and a good third of that 15% is very, very squishy. The Pollina camp knows this, as they have already been lowering expectations for the release of the first media poll results.

So Symington needs to continue to push the case that Douglas is not right for the job, and she has Pollina and an increasingly challenging news media (at last) which can help. Douglas needs to be held as closely as possible to that 42%. With an expected record-setting election this year, including the possible arrival of that Holy Grail of politics, the “youth vote,” Douglas will inevitably post lower numbers, and that distinction in Democratic performance between the interstate corridors and the rest of the state will become more pronounced.

Looking at Douglas’s performance in the last two years makes precision predictions sketchy. Sure, it’s clear where his stronger and weaker areas are, and the spread of the last two elections is very similar – but the ’02 spread is different. Clearly, if the dynamic hasn’t changed, we’ll be seeing that ’04 & ’06 pattern play out again, but the WCAX/Research 2000 polls suggest that things have changed, and Symington has to build her approach on that dynamic.

But what about Pollina? Well, Pollina looks more predictable… not in terms of what his overall percentage will be, but in terms of where those votes will come from. Here are his results from his latest two statewide runs:

That’s a pretty consistent spread, with the exception of the drop in Windham County from running against local boy Shumlin, making Pollina’s appeal very trackable. It also suggests that if the Democrats field efforts in traditionally high Dem performing counties like Washington and Chittenden payoff, the high-profile Democratic bleed from places like Lamoille will drift negligibly down that curve.

If Douglas does prove to be vulnerable, Pollina will, as many fear, have a big role to play in the outcome, but it doesn’t have to lead to a Douglas victory.

The hole in that curve is Windham County. Symington will need to do well in what should be a mine for Democratic votes (it is the only County Peter Clavelle won in 2004), but many of the shortcomings of the Democratic legislature – in particular the serial enabling of Entergy Vermont Yankee – are placed squarely at her feet.

In a broader sense, I suspect many voters in Windham County will have similar problems to those that I have with her as a candidate; concerns about her competence in her role as Speaker, in particular, concerns that she is her own worst enemy in terms of creating Progressive change (and in the opposite way that Pollina the bridge-burner is his own worst enemy). Symington’s oft-repeated mantra over the years is a celebration of politics as “the art of the possible.” If you wonder why such talk is like fingernails on a chalkboard to many activists, I’ll quote myself from some time back on this site:

Do you know what the most destructive quote in politics is? It’s the oft-repeated and fawned over line:

“Politics is the art of the possible.”

-Otto Von Bismarck

Feh. This single line and the sentiment behind it has lead to the steady marginalizing of anything that could be considered visionary from so many elected Democrats. It is the poison of cynicism masked in rhetorical elegance. It is both the implicit permission to surrender on policy, as well as a suggestion that working towards truly far-reaching goals is immature and unrealistic. If only the following were as readily quoted:

“Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”

-John Kenneth Galbraith

A little silly, sure. But it’s true. We are looking at the disastrous all around us. And while it may be unpalatable to step out in front and brave the inevitable slings and arrows that come from advancing visionary, progressive positions, disaster is simply not an option.

Symington is all mechanics. To convince some of these voters, she’ll need to find vision, and this “art of the possible” nonsense is an excuse not to have to deal with anything as silly as vision.

She needs those votes, and they will not be votes she can make up through the DNC-enhanced Democratic field structure in less-blue counties.  In fact, Field is going to simply keep from losing ground for Symington, rather than gaining it. Without a primary, she can hit the ground running with a Field operation through the Party, but beyond a solid, generic voter ID and an efficient, targeted get-out-the-vote operation, this is not going to be a Field-oriented campaign. She simply started too late for that. She can make up for a lot of that if her Democratic House caucus is willing to put some of their efforts, contacts and footwork to work on her behalf – and they likely will – but they will be a tough metric to track, and therefore be a tricky one to depend on in terms of any meaningful predictability.

Symington is going to have to go to paid media sooner than Dems usually do, and in a more sustained way. Clavelle went to media relatively early, but in a scattershot way. Parker was more sustained, but went up later. Symington needs to do both, and to do that, she is hopefully taking full advantage of the lack of meaningful campaign finance limits.

The game changers to watch will be July 31st when Campaign Finance disclosures will be due. If the discrepancy in funds between Symington and Pollina is as dramatic as I suspect, expect that to generate further momentum from swing voters who will see her as viable.

The other question mark is whether the Symington campaign can generate poll numbers – either internally or externally – that suggest Symington has a shot. If the undecideds are back up, and the daylight between Symington and Douglas only just dips into double digits, expect the DNC financial floodgates – locked shut for the last 4 years – to open up again, changing the paid media equation in what will have to be a largely paid media-driven campaign.

And those last minute megabucks Jim Douglas has come to expect every year from the national Republican Party may not be quite so plentiful given the financial disadvantage enjoyed by so many Republicans in this year of Obama, and given the fact that Douglas is running for re-election in a state where McCain will get trounced, and where there is no credible challenge to Peter Welch on the horizon. Vermont will be looked on as a state with no value-added, cross-ballot payoff by the national GOP.

This is a year where things can – and likely will – change quickly.

The game of Democratic whack-a-mole continues, or so it would seem. I’m told from a reliable source that State Representative Harry Chen (Rut-Winds 1) likely won’t opt to run for Lieutenant Governor, despite reports.

Anybody dizzy yet? First Senator Jim Condos was mulling a run, going so far as to have a sit down with Dubie about it, next it was likely to be Senate President Shumlin, then Shumlin denies he was ever considering it (which was annoying, given that everybody knew otherwise by that time). Then Dr. Deb Richter was a virtual lock, until too many friends called “traitor!” at the idea of her running as a Dem, so the good Doctor opted not to run without the backing of her personal support network. Now its Chen, who may have been “outed” as a candidate somewhat prematurely, and may not have been all that close to a real commitment.

July 21st is the deadline for filing Major Party Candidate Petition and Consent forms at the Secretary of State’s office. That’s roughly four weeks away. I gotta tellya, this Vermont Democrat is feeling mightily embarrassed.

To Nate “mydog” Freeman: if this rumor is true, it looks like it’s all you, buddy. Bring your video camera.

I have mixed feelings about “Best of” contests, but let's be serious – who doesn't like to be a winner? Even though its down to the last few days of voting, making paper ballots unlikely to be filled out and mailed in in time, I think I will make a pitch for Green Mountain Daily to get your vote. GMD is never at home field advantage with the Burlington-based Seven Days contest. For whatever reason, we've never had a front pager from Chittenden County (not for lack of looking), so a wide swath of our reader base is not aware of the Daysies, or doesn't feel they can answer the minimum 33 of the 100 questions needed for the ballot to qualify.

So this diary is here to help, by god. I've included suggestions below the fold, many of them are Montpelier-centric, as I live in Montpelier, but feel free to make other suggestions (and I haven't made suggestions for all the ballot items). There are links to the ballot as well, which will open in seperate browser windows so you an refer to the list.

Why GMD? Along with providing a public soapbox and bringing you interviews with the likes of Matt Taibbi and Howard Dean, over GMD's existence, we have – I think – done some extraordinary things for a bunch of activists working in their spare time. We've broken stories and actually impacted Vermont – such as when we uncovered the State Police program to illegally obtain Vermonter's presecription drug records, forcing them to backpedal within days. We've pushed issues the traditional media isn't interested in (such as race issues in the state). Our forums have brought out legislators into the comments section from the Democratic, Progressive and Republican Parties. We've taken point in the traditional media on issues of free speech (such as our high profile on the iBrattleboro case), and we've impacted the public debate in many ways (forcing the discussion of a legislatively brokered Governor's election into the mainstream). And we've enhanced the Democratic Process while being internet innovators (such as through Vermont's first online debate between Lt. Gov candidates Matt Dunne and John Tracy). All in our spare time. We are fiercely independent, and have served – as Caoimhin Laochdha said – as “the kidney of the Vermont Democratic Party” and the progressive left.

And this week we hit a major milestone with mydog's (Nate's) citizen journalism video which hit the front page of the papers and became an immediate point of debate in the Gubernatorial race. The first time GMD has hit the papers in this way through a piece NOT generated by one of the front pagers, but a regular citizen taking advantage of this platform to make themselves heard. I can't tell you how thrilled that has made me.

And that speaks to our most significant accomplishment – we have built a community unlike any other in the Vermont blogosphere. And for that I am very, very grateful. I hope you'll consider voting for us, and emailing a link to this diary to others. Use the list below if you like, or just tell me how full of crap my choices are in the comments. It's all good.

CLICK HERE FOR BALLOT (Opens in a new window so you can have this list handy)

4. Best place to have dinner
 a. Inside Chittenden County

Of course there's “A Single Pebble.” There's also “American Flatbread”

 b. Outside Chittenden County

Mmm… “Royal Orchid.” Yummy Thai food. Also the Wiatsfield “American Flatbread”

5. Best breakfast/brunch
 a. Inside Chittenden County

How about “Penny Cluse?” 

 b. Outside Chittenden County

C'mon… “River Run” is taking this.

6. Best place to do lunch
 a. Inside Chittenden County

“Ali Baba's!” Falafel – woo-hoo! 

  b. Outside Chittenden County

I'd say if you don't have a favorite, give “Rhapsody” a boost. Or “Kismet.” Groovy food in Montpelier.

7. Best late night food

I'm not out late anymore.

8. Best Asian fare

“Royal Orchid” in Montpelier again. Mmm. I'm getting hungry.

9. Best veggie fare

“Rhapsody” in Montpelier again. Lotso stuff. 

10. Best pizza

Lots of good pizza out there, but its gotta be “American Flatbread.”

11. Best burger

Hm. I don't know. In Montpelier, its probably “McGillicuddy's”

12. Best cheap eats

“The Wayside!”

13. Best brew pub

“The Alchemist” in Waterbury. Great place.

14. Best Vermont brewery

I voted for “Long Trail.”

16. Best bar

C'mon. You don't need any help with that.

18. Best place to get caffeinated

“Gesine” has the best coffee I know of in my town.

19. Best bakery

Gesine again.

20. Best natural foods market

Healthy Living. 

21. Best take-out

Uhh… “Royal Orchid!”

23. Best wine/spirits seller

In Montpelier, I voted to support the fledgling “Uncommon Market.”

24. Best farmers' market vendor/farm stand

How about “Jing Ji”, who sells those great dumplings!

25. Best Vermont bread

A lot to choose from here. How about “Manghi's?”

26. Best live music venue

It's not the best venue for hearing music, but “Langdon Street Cafe” gets a lot of great musicians who otherwise wouldn't get to play in front of crowds. Very cool.

29. Best vocalist

You know Grace Potter is going to win this.

30. Best Vermont band

If you're not going to vote for Grace Potter's band, you could try “The Goat Broke Loose” or the “Dave Keller band”

31. Best new band

Sugar Shack!

34. Best performing arts venue

I guess the Flynn, eh?

35. Best fiction writer

Philip Baruth!

37. Best craftsperson

How about my old landlord – Georgia Landau?

Lazy pear.

40. Best movie theater

Gonna be Montpelier-centric again and say The Savoy Theater.

41. Best museum

Montshire Museum.

42. Best fest

Solarfest.

49. Best print journalist

This is tough, but I'm gonna say Dan Barlow this year. 

50. Best VT publication

Why – Green Mountain Daily, natch! 

51. Best TV newscaster
 
Stewart Ledbetter

55. Best radio station

VPR! Great Vermont coverage.

56. Best Vermont Blog — political (please enter url)

www.greenmountaindaily.com. Duh.

57. Best Vermont Blog — NON-political (please enter url)

Oh, I dunno… how about Bosox Wally at www.redsoxwill.blogspot.com? (except you know you secretly wanna vote for Mistress maeve's sex blog at Seven Days – 7d.blogs.com/mistress)

61. Best shoe store
 Inside Chittenden County

Pass.

Outside Chittenden County

The Shoe Horn

63. Best secondhand stores

One More Time 

65. Best children's clothing

Cheshire Cat

66. Best designer jewelry

Lochlin Smith

Guitar Sam

70. Best record store
 Inside Chittenden County

Pure Pop

Outside Chittenden County

Buch Spieler

71. Best bookstore
 Inside Chittenden County

The Flying Pig in Shelburne

Outside Chittenden County

Bear Pond Books

72. Hottest housewares

Homeport.

77. Best computer store

Computer Barn! (Okay, maybe they're not the best… but again, just out of principle)

8. Best wedding venue

Lareau Inn/American Flatbread in Waitsfield.

80. Best stationer

Capitol Stationers! (What's a stationer?)

81. Best auto dealer

Racine, naturally.

83. Best outdoor outfitter

EMS Sports.

Onion River Sports in Montpelier.

86. Best Internet provider

SoverNet, just out of principle. Even if they're not the greatest.

90. Greatest garden center

Gardener's Supply, natch

91. Best place to get body art

Aw geez. I can't remember the name of that place in Burlington that I got my tattoo. From a very young woman who was very into snakes. It was next to Nectar's.

92. Best place to rent a movie

Downstairs Video in Montpelier 

96. Best public restroom

The new Williston rest area bathrooms are very nice and clean.

98. Best thing that could happen to Vermont

A new Governor. 

CLICK HERE FOR BALLOT (Opens in a new window so you can have this list handy)