It seems that the Kos community wants Vermont to participate in a monkey-wrenching of the Vermont Republican Primary.
Since Vermont has open primaries, we can vote in any party's contest without having to declare a official affiliation. But I do think it will be tough to get Vermont Democrats and Progressives to cast a vote Rick Santorum under any circumstances.
But causing mischief in a primary has been done in Vermont. One of the great primaries in recent years was the 1998 GOP Senate primary between Jack McMullen, a millionaire from Massachusetts, and Fred Tuttle, a dairy farmer from Tunbridge.
McMullen was a recent transplant to Vermont and thought he could buy himself the GOP nomination. Tuttle's claim to fame was that he appeared in a 1996 film by John O'Brien called "Man with a Plan," about a retired dairy farmer who decides to run for Congress so he can pay his bills.
O'Brien had the brilliant idea of having Tuttle run for Senate to promote the video release of "Man with a Plan." He figured that it would be great publicity. He didn't figure that Tuttle would actually win.
McMullen wasn't that well liked, even by Republicans. Tuttle, on the other hand, was a beloved figure.
The turning point in the campaign was a debate on Vermont Public Radio. Tuttle asked a series of questions to gauge how much McMullen really knew about Vermont. After being unable to correctly pronounce the names of several Vermont towns, Tuttle went for the kill with this question: "How many teats a Holstein got?"
McMullen answered "Six," instead of the correct "Four." In blowing that question, he confirmed his status as a flatlander -- the epithet Vermont natives use to describe people from Massachusetts, Connecticut or New York.
On primary day, Democrats and Progressives voted in droves in the GOP primary to support Fred.
Tuttle, who spent about $200 on his campaign, beat the Massachusetts millionaire, winning 55 percent of the vote.
And the story gets better. Tuttle's opponent in the general election was incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy. Saying that he didn't want to win because it meant he would have to move to Washington, Tuttle endorsed Leahy and made several campaign appearance with Sen. Leahy.
Despite endorsing Leahy, Tuttle still picked up 48,051 votes (22 percent of the vote) in the general election.
Tuttle died in 2003 at the age of 84, but the memory of that election still warms the hearts of Vermonters.