You may have noticed that Brian Dubie's campaign has trotted out Dubie's wife in the last week or so, and wondered why that was happening.
To me it seems pretty obvious. For years, Dubie's main selling point has been that everyone thinks he's a nice guy. Now the population that feels that way is apparently down to one. And she's the one they brought out to campaign for her husband.
One thing we know for sure: he's demolished any chance of coming across as a straight shooter.
Do you remember Art Linkletter? I sure do. During the summers when I was a kid I would watch Art Linkletter's House Party with my grandmother pretty much every afternoon. One of the features was Art's “Kids Say the Darndest Things”, a segment where he would interview little kids–thousands of them over the years–to share the amusement that their naive, comical insights would provide.
Today we have Vermont's own version, the Secretary of State's Statewide Candidate Information Publication. Not every statewide candidate posted anything, but there are some pretty wacky comments. I won't post everything, but here are a couple.
Cris Ericson: (U.S. Senate and Governor)
Cris Ericson is still looking for investors for her movie script, “Champ the Lake Champlain Monster”, a movie about pirates who come to Vermont and our favorite Vermont lake creature, Champ.
Karen Kerin (Attorney General):
I will work to have our statutes printed in the books without the annotations or court decisions that are not law. It is inappropriate to include what lawyers call case law, which they and judges cite promiscuously as a substitute for scholarship. Such material may have some minor advisory value, but it does not rise to the level of statutory law. The book(s), which every lawyer owns, gives an unfair advantage to lawyers and deprives persons representing themselves of fairness.
I'm not sure which is more out there, the Champ movie or the idea that our legal system is going to ditch the idea of precedent that has served us for centuries.
A delightful comment in response to the candidate forum discussion about Vermont Yankee:
Having Todd answer last – after these bigger named, partied candidates – is a riot. They wander through variously vague statements, and then Todd churns out a ton of genuinely substantive information, showing he’s researched all of this, talked to people involved, thought about it, has plans in mind, and can communicate it all to us in plain terms.
I take it ambitaz was unimpressed with Lynn’s trenchant observation that tritium goes with nuclear power…
todd
PS–A weird SQL error seems to be caused by some additional text in the quote?
asd
Having Todd answer last – after these bigger named, partied candidates – is a riot. They wander through variously vague statements, and then Todd churns out a ton of genuinely substantive information, showing he’s researched all of this, talked to people involved, thought about it, has plans in mind, and can communicate it all to us in plain terms.
asd
asd
Having Todd answer last – after these bigger named, partied candidates – is a riot. They wander through variously vague statements, and then Todd churns out a ton of genuinely substantive information, showing he’s researched all of this, talked to people involved, thought about it, has plans in mind, and can communicate it all to us in plain terms.
Why is my post not posting? SQL error? PC LOAD LETTER?!
todd
Vermont Workers’ Center lead organizer James Haslam was recently featured in Thom Hartmann’s “Big Picture” radio show and talked about the “Healthcare Is A Human Right” campaign.
Yesterday, Jim Condos called out his GOP opponent for Secretary of State, Jason Gibbs, on his embracing of the “Vermont Tea Party Patriots.” The Vermont group is part of a movement that is initiating voter intimidation tactics across the country. At the time, I snagged this screen grab to demonstrate he was one of 155 members of their Facebook group:
I’m sure you’ll be shocked to read that, after a quick glance back at the site, Mr. Gibbs no longer appears as a member. Wonder how his friends at the site, such as Rob Roper, feel about his high-tailing it away from ’em.
( – promoted by Jack McCullough)
Democratic Secretary of State candidate Jim Condos is denouncing what appears to be planned voter intimidation initiatives on Election Day. He has called upon his Republican opponent, Jason Gibbs, a member of the Vermont Tea Party Patriots, to do the same.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Tea Party members are being instructed to approach and “question any individual voter at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible” to vote. The Voting Rights and Elections Project at New York University stated that these “private efforts to police the polls create a real risk of vote suppression,” and that “people need to know that any form of discrimination, intimidation, or challenge to voters without adequate basis is illegal or improper.”
The Burlington Free Press reported on Monday that the Vermont Tea Party (also known as the Green Mountain Patriots) will hold a training session to instruct its members in “poll watching” on Election Day. This training session is part of a nationwide movement of Tea Party groups organizing similar efforts in other states. The Vermont Tea Party is affiliated with the Tea Party Patriots, a national organization.
Jason Gibbs is a member of Vermont Tea Party Patriots and supports the national Tea Party Patriots as well. He has also attended at least two different Tea Party events here in Vermont during his 2010 campaign.
“Vermonters have a fundamental right to go to the polls and cast their ballots without fear of intimidation or bullying,” Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Jim Condos said. “The Secretary of State’s chief responsibility is enforcing and ensuring citizen’s rights to a fair and open Democratic process. The fact that my opponent is associating himself with the Vermont Tea Party and other national groups that are planning to interfere with the voting process should raise serious concerns about his ability to fairly and impartially oversee Vermont’s elections. I call on Mr. Gibbs to immediately denounce these groups and their plan to question voters at the polls.
“This is just one more example of how my opponent and I differ in our basic approach to government and citizens rights. I fully support efforts to encourage and involve more people in the voting process, such as early voting and Election Day registration. I will also fight hard to protect Vermont’s election process and to ensure that special interests do not dominate our political system, by working with Vermont’s citizens and legislature to enforce reasonable and realistic campaign contribution limits. My opponent, Mr. Gibbs does not support these positive election reforms.”