I am fairly certain that Vermont is the only state in the Union where each of the Democratic candidates for governor would appear on a public access TV show about blogging. We value the access we have to our politicians here, and we also value that they tend to be real live human beings AKA whole people. So of course none of them balked when I asked them to opine upon one of the most controversial cultural issues of our time.
The VT Primary is this Tuesday, August 24, and one of these candidates will face off against Brian Dubie, our present Lt. Governor.
I have been producing VTblogosphereTV for about 2 years, interviewing VT-based progressive bloggers. When candidates started posting diaries up on Green Mountain Daily, I figured why not ask them to come on the show. Doug Racine responded first, and we interviewed way back in February. Then followed Matt Dunne in March, Deb Markowitz in April, Susan Bartlett in May, and Peter Shumlin in July.
First up, Doug Racine, State Senator from Chittenden County, former Lt. Governor, only candidate to have beaten Brian Dubie. His fundraising has been seen as lagging, but that may just be an indication of his focus on grassroots volunteer efforts.
Doug Racine's website
Clip 2 Doug Racine
Clip 3 Doug Racine
Next up, Matt Dunne, on leave as Google's Manager of Community Affairs, former State Senator from Windsor County, federal executive experience as Director of Americorps/VISTA. He has been fundraising well, and focusing on younger voters.
Matt Dunne's Campaign website
Clip 2 Matt Dunne
Clip 3 Matt Dunne
Deb Markowitz has been Vermont's Secretary of State for 12 years. She has been leading in fundraising and has polled best against Brian Dubie. Her position as Secretary of State gives her nonpartisan executive experience and knowledge of all of our little towns.
Deb For Vermont website
Clip 2 Deb Markowitz
Clip 3 Deb Markowitz
Susan Bartlett is State Senator from Lamoile County and Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee. She is the most fiscally conservative of the candidates and could benefit from independent and Republican votes in this open Primary.
Susan Bartlett's campaign website
Clip 2 Susan Bartlett
Clip3 Susan Bartlett
And finally we have Peter Shumlin, State Senator from Windham County and President Pro Tempore of the Senate. He is widely credited with shepherding marriage equality (complete with an override of Governor Jim Douglas' veto) and Vermont Yankee nuke plant decommissioning through the Senate.
Pete Shumlin's campaign website
Clip 2 Pete Shumlin
Clip 3 Pete Shumlin (audio disabled on YouTube by Warner Music Group (WMG). I am disputing the muting of this interview but I will link to vid of same without offending audio once I get it up tonight.)
It's a really strong field, but voter turnout has been a huge question mark as the Primary was moved last legislative session to make time to count overseas military votes. Late August has not historically been a time to focus on politics in Vermont. But we will know soon which of these five will have the honor of beating Brian Dubie in November.
Feel free to comment on the candidates, the Star Trek vs. Star Wars controversy, the candidates' responses to the controversy, public access TV, copyright law, or ....