Anne-Marie Slaughter and Sheryl Sandberg might be hogging the limelight when it comes to the national debate over women in the workplace, but in little ol' Vermont, it's a veteran stateswoman who has taken up the banner for better access to childcare, paid parental leave and flexible work schedules — all factors that former governor Madeleine Kunin believes would encourage women's leadership and participation in the workforce.

That advocacy is on display in the new documentary Madeleine Kunin: Political Pioneer, which debuts tonight on Vermont Public Television at 9 p.m. and is also available to stream online. The hourlong documentary is charts the private and political life of Vermont's first woman governor. If you've been following the national debate about women in the workplace — or if you're just eager to see some particularly rad, 1970s- and '80s-era Statehouse archival footage — it's worth a watch. (Keep your eyes peeled for former governor Jim Douglas' particularly rad, plaid suit coat: fantastic.) 

Watch Madeleine May Kunin: Political Pioneer on PBS. See more from Vermont Public Television Documentaries.

Writer, producer and director Catherine Hughes worked as a journalist for WCAX in the 1980s during Kunin's three terms as governor. "Even I, who had paid some attention to her career, was still amazed when I really sat down and looked at everything she's done," says Hughes.

Shortly before the U.S. Senate voted to debate a polarizing gun-control bill Thursday morning, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) delivered an impassioned plea to his colleagues to "stand up and be counted."

In a 10-minute speech on the Senate floor, Leahy repeated that refrain over and over again, appearing as if he was seeking to shame his fellow senators into voting on the legislation, regardless of where they stood.

"Stand up and be counted! Stand up and be counted!" he said, nearly shouting. "Don't give speeches saying you're in favor of law enforcement, but we're going to take away the tools law enforcement needs. Stand up and be counted. Stand up and be counted."

Calling Republican efforts to stall debate an "ill-conceived filibuster," Leahy said, "Americans across this great country are looking to us for solutions and action, not filibustering or sloganeering. Americans are saying, 'Stand up and be counted.'"

Watch the full video here:

Not long after Leahy's speech, the Senate voted 68 to 31 in favor of taking up the legislation. The bill includes several provisions passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy chairs, including a measure the Vermont senator wrote that cracks down on gun traffickers and "straw" purchasers. 

The legislation received a major boost earlier this week when Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) signed off on a bipartisan plan to extend background checks to unlicensed firearms dealers. The bill does not include more controversial proposals, such as a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, though such measures will likely reappear in the form of amendments on the floor next week.

The others who voted in favor of debating the bill were Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 49 other Democrats, 16 Republicans and another independent. Two Democrats and 29 Republicans opposed ending the filibuster.

A slip of the tongue by First Lady Michelle Obama in an interview with a Vermont television reporter has gone viral among the gaffe-giddy Washington, D.C., politerati.

In an on-camera discussion at the White House with WCAX-TV's Bridget Barry Caswell, Obama described herself as "a busy, single mother," before quickly correcting herself to note that she's, um, married to this guy who's kind of a big deal.

Caswell was one of several Vermont reporters who traveled to Washington Thursday to cover a delegation of Milton Elementary School students selected to help Obama plant the White House Garden. Caswell scored a sit-down interview with the first lady and quizzed her on her initiatives to encourage healthy eating and exercise.

Obama's verbal stumble came when Caswell asked her how busy families can make the time to adopt healthier eating practices.

"Believe me, as a busy single mother— or, I shouldn't say single," Obama corrected herself. "As a busy mother— sometimes when you've got a husband who's president, it can feel a little single, but he's there."

See the clip below — or watch Caswell's full interview over at WCAX.

UPDATED at 6:35 p.m.

With the release of two new television ads Wednesday, the conservative super PAC Vermonters First demonstrated that it's in Vermont politics for the long haul.

As the Vermont Press Bureau's Peter Hirschfeld first reported this morning, the group today began airing two new, 15-second ads attacking Democrats for proposing $70 million in new taxes.

“An eight-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase?” says a man featured in one ad as he fills up the tank of his pickup truck. “That’ll make it harder to do my job.”

A narrator then intones, “Vermont Democrats are proposing at least $70 million in new taxes on working Vermonters. Call your legislators and say no to these higher taxes.”

The ads are the first public move by Vermonters First since the final two months of the 2012 campaign season, when it spent more than a million dollars without much success. The ads signal that the group, which was almost entirely funded by Burlington heiress Lenore Broughton, has designs on influencing not just elections, but legislative deliberations as well.

How much Vermonters First plans to invest in its new media campaign is unclear, though WCAX-TV confirmed that the group has thus far spent $7800 to air the ads 31 times. They began running Wednesday and are slated to air at least through March 1.

The group’s treasurer, consultant and de facto spokesman, Tayt Brooks, declined to comment Wednesday on its plans or strategy.

The group’s critics on the left, however, were quick to pounce.

So now we know how they spend all those member dollars!

Carrying through on a promise made during the 6 a.m. hour of Friday's "Morning Edition," Vermont Public Radio hosts Jane Lindholm and Mitch Wertlieb have starred in the latest version of the oldest meme known to mankind: the "Call Me Maybe" parody.

If, like me, you snoozed through an hour of overly-caffeinated pledge drive banter this morning, you know that Lindholm promised (threatened?) to summon her inner Carly Rae Jepsen if the station raised $25,000 before 9 a.m. Doing so would earn them another $10,000 in challenge matches from big-money donors.

"It's one of those weird moments when you want the station to get the money, but you don't want to make that embarrassing video," Lindholm says. 

Sure enough, a few minutes before 9, VPR reached its one-day goal. So the staff put Tom Ashbrook on mute and spent the rest of the morning dancing around their Colchester studio like Carl Kasell on acid.

Here's the final product:

Original? Not exactly. After all, they were beat to the punch by the Cookie Monster, Colin Powell and, um, these fellas. Even the folks at National Public Radio were on the case last summer.

Then again, those versions don't feature Friday Night Jazz host Reuben Jackson (1:38) strutting his stuff in the music library or dreamboat reporter Kirk Carapezza (1:10) flashing Lindholm a thumbs-up from his standing desk. And then there's VPR Classical's Walter Parker (2:28) and his sweet 'stache flashing the hotline digits from behind the mic.

Even Wertlieb was able to move beyond his jam band predilections.

"Mitch says he would rather have been able to twirl along to the Grateful Dead," Lindholm says, "But I think you can see from the video he got pretty into it."

Will the video inspire me to call them and donate?

Maybe. So long as they never play that song again when I'm trying to wake up.

One of the more interesting and unusual stories to emerge from the Vermont music community this year was the arrival of local hip-hop trio, A2VT. The group, which was the subject of a Seven Days cover story in July, is composed of three young refugees from Africa: Said Bulle (Somalia and Kenya), Cadoux Fancy (Republic of the Congo) and Geworge Mnyonge (Tanzania), who all currently live in Winooski.

Earlier this week, the trio released a video for their song "Winooski, My Town," from their self-titled debut album. It's a catchy little tune that fuses elements of American hip-hop with the more melodic, pop-centric hip-hop coming out of eastern Africa. The video finds A2VT preaching some seriously sunny civic pride, rapping, singing — and dancing! — in various notable locations around their adopted Onion City home. It's a fine, funky tribute to a town that usually doesn't get a lot of love.  

A new TV ad released Tuesday morning by Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock is drawing criticism from the top elected official in his own party: Lt. Gov. Phil Scott.

"I've never bought into the notion that negative campaigning is something Vermonters necessarily want to see," Scott says. "I'm sure there's some portions of the ad that are accurate. It's, I guess, the innuendos. It just seems a little over-the-top to me. I'm not comfortable with that kind of thing."

Brock's 30-second ad brutally slams his Democratic opponent, Gov. Peter Shumlin, on everything from land deals to out-of-state travel to "thousands of taxpayer dollars spent to settle undisclosed discrimination and misconduct allegations."

Here, watch it for yourself:

Scott says he first saw the ad during an editorial board meeting with the Barre/Montpelier Times-Argus and the Rutland Herald Tuesday afternoon. He says it reminded him of the nasty 2010 gubernatorial campaign between Shumlin and former lieutenant governor Brian Dubie.

That Bernie Sanders will retain his U.S. Senate seat in next week's election is a foregone conclusion. So you could be excused for not tuning in to the formality that was the U.S. Senate debate on Vermont Public Television last Thursday night. But if you were one of the estimated 26 people who did watch, then you were witness to perhaps the strangest and most unintentionally hilarious 90 minutes in the history of Vermont politics.

When ol' Bernardo is the most even-keeled voice in the room, you know you've entered a political Twilight Zone. Nothing against the distinguished gentleman from Vermont, but subtlety and nuance has never been his strikeout pitch. Yet in comparison to the rogue's gallery of challengers he faced on this night, Bernie was a vision of stoicism. To call these folks eccentric would be an act of charity so generous that Paul Ryan would probably enact legislation against it.

What follows is a brief rundown of some of the evening's highlights, with a declaration of who really won the day. You can view the entire debate — highly recommended — right here.

NAME: Peter Diamondstone

PARTY: Liberty Union

BASIC PLATFORM: Fuck you, Bernie.

LINE OF THE NIGHT: "Fuck you, Bernie." OK, he never actually said that. But he might as well have — and did catch himself just before dropping a nuclear f-bomb on at least one occasion. Regardless of the question or topic, the ever-agitated Diamondstone attacked Bernie's voting record on military spending, accused the Senator of being a puppet for Lockheed-Martin and repeatedly bemoaned Burlington's impending Sanders-led transmogrification into "Bagram 2." Bonus points for rocking shorts and a t-shirt at a debate for national office.

NAME: Cris Ericson

PARTY: United States Marijuana Party

BASIC PLATFORM: We have no idea.

LINE OF THE NIGHT: Where to begin? Every time the camera panned to Ericson, we found ourselves giggling in anticipation like a stoned 15-year-old. While Ericson's assertion that the F-35s could turn Burlington into a smoldering crater because increased solar flare activity might trigger the planes' nuclear weapons was breathtaking, we're going with this gem from early in the debate regarding the danger of China's relationship with Iran: "When President Obama spoke about the big yellow bird, I don't think he was talking about [Big Bird]. I think he was talking about China. You know, Chinese people, Oriental people are referred to as yellow."

NAME: Laurel LaFramboise

PARTY: VoteKISS

BASIC PLATFORM: No relation to former Burlington mayor and current state Senate candidate, Bob Kiss, or, sadly, the band Kiss — or even Mini-Kiss. LaFramboise's central idea is a constitutional amendment shortening and simplifying legislation to create transparency in government. The KISS part stands for "Keep It Short and Simple."

LINE OF THE NIGHT: One of the more coherent candidates on the panel, LaFramboise made a salient point in her closing argument regarding Sanders' bloated campaign cache: "What he's gonna do with $6.9 million when he's a shoo-in is beyond me." 

NAME: John MacGovern

PARTY: Republican

BASIC PLATFORM: We gotta send somebody out there, right?

LINE OF THE NIGHT: In those moments when he appeared to actually be awake, the Republican Party's sacrificial elephant certainly looked the part of a GOP candidate: a stiff, graying, affluent white guy. MacGovern also seemed to be comically under-informed on issues that didn't overtly involve gobs of money, in particular, the F-35 debate, which he admitted to only having learned about recently. But we found endearing his reliance on the pseudo-catchphrase, "Get the facts and let the chips fall where they may," as an answer to pretty much every question posed.

NAME: Peter Moss

PARTY: Peace and Prosperity

BASIC PLATFORM: Taking down these guys.

LINE OF THE NIGHT: A mix of your kindly Old World grandfather and Colonel Klink from "Hogan's Heroes," Moss is just friggin' adorable. And paranoid. On term limits to discourage career politicians he said, "This helps the real decision makers, who are the Bohemian Club, who meet once a year in July in California. … The politics you see on the media, which the Bohemians own and manipulate, are a make-believe of two parties, which are really one party with a donkey face and an elephant face. I am running to reveal the truth of these machinations."

NAME: Bernie Sanders

PARTY: Independent

BASIC PLATFORM: I'm Bernie Sanders, bitches!

LINE OF THE NIGHT: Under constant attack from all sides for most of the night, Bernie was his usual curmudgeonly self. But both longtime foil, Peter Diamondstone, and moderator Mark Johnson landed blows that seemed to rattle the champ. In particular, when Johnson pressed the senator on whether he'd still support the F-35 as a weapons technology if Vermont were not in the running to land the planes, Sanders not-so-gracefully skirted the question, declining to delve into hypotheticals. It was a cop-out and fairly nonsensical, which, on this night, was par for the course.

AND THE WINNER IS!: Moderator Mark Johnson, for keeping a straight face throughout. His performance was reminiscent of Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek on those old "Celebrity Jeopardy!" skits on SNL. We have to imagine the respected WDEV radio host was calling into question the entirety of his distinguished journalism career when he had to ask Ericson to clarify her breathtakingly goofy Big Bird statement: "Were you suggesting that Mitt Romney, in the debate when he used the reference to Big Bird, that he was not talking about the Big Bird from Sesame Street?"   

——— We now interrupt serious news coverage for something completely inconsequential. ———

A new ad released Monday morning by Republican state treasurer candidate Wendy Wilton features a familiar face — and voice.

Former governor Jim Douglas — himself a four-term state treasurer — narrates the ad and appears in it, telling voters that, "Wendy Wilton is a professional, non-political fiscal leader who is looking out for you."

The ad features footage of Wilton strolling with a mother and child and Wilton chattin' with the former governor; it closes with Wilton facing the camera, saying, "I'll provide total transparency for all our state finances online, and I'd appreciate your vote on Nov. 6th."

Douglas did not immediately return a call for comment Monday, but said in a statement released by the Wilton campaign that the Douglas and Wilton families have been friends for years.

Here's the ad:

Last year, a lesbian couple sued the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville when it refused to host the couple's wedding reception due to the owners' religious beliefs. That case came to an end this summer, when the inn agreed to pay $30,000 as a part of a settlement with the couple.

Now Jim and Mary O'Reilly, the owners of the Wildflower Inn, are appearing in a TV ad opposing same-sex marriage in Maine, where voters will decide whether to overturn the state's same-sex marriage ban on Election Day. "A lesbian couple sued us for not supporting their gay wedding because of our Christian beliefs," Jim says in the ad, which was paid for by a group called Protect Marriage Maine.

The Portland Press Herald calls the ad "misleading" and "mostly false," since the innkeepers were sued for breaking a 1992 anti-discrimination law, not the 2009 same-sex marriage law. Watch it for yourself below.