Incumbent Lt. Gov Brian Dubie will not seek to fill the Republican line in Vermont's 2006 Senate race:
Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie's decision to seek re-election, rather than run for an open U.S. Senate seat, makes Sen. Mark Shepard the only Republican candidate for that position with previous experience in politics.
Shepard, R-Bennington, said during an interview on Wednesday that he plans to announce his intentions on Monday.
"I've got a lot of people who are interested in me running for higher public office," he said. "The people that know me know that I would be a strong candidate for the office."
Describing himself as "a regular working Vermonter," Shepard said that most state residents support his positions on health care, economics and wilderness preservation.
"Many times I've taken a stand that a lot of people appreciate," he said. "That's what makes me a strong candidate."
This Vermonter's take after the jump...
Edited 12:11 EDT to make a pun in the title
Shepard is not the real opponent in this race for most Vermont Democrats, however. That honor falls to Rich Tarrant, a Burlington businessman with no political experience but lots of money, which he has said he will spend to attempt to defeat current Congressman
Bernie Sanders.
Shepard's entry into the GOP fray means, obviously, that Tarrant will have to spend resources to fend him off before the general election, where Sanders holds the upper hand with experience and name recognition, but not fundraising. (Sanders will not accept Federal matching funds and relies on individual contributions to finance his campaign.)
The Vermont GOP, as toothless a state GOP as you can find in these times, has obviously told Dubie to stay away to protect Tarrant; and now we shall see if Shepard, a state senator from my part of the state (the often-ignored Southern Vermont) will also take a dive for the Party.