At a policy forum hosted by Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility at Burlington's Main Street Landing, all but a handful of candidates set to appear on November's ballot showed up to deliver three-minute elevator pitches and answer a few questions each. (Okay, that's a long elevator ride.)
While a couple of the state's top elected officials skipped the event — Gov. Peter Shumlin and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch were at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was in New York City taping Moyers and Company — most everybody else attended. That gave the sparse crowd of just 40 to 50 people, including candidates and their staff, a helpful sneak preview of campaign themes to come.
Here are seven things we noticed during the two-hour forum: