Freyne Land

A whole lot of people on pins and needles, but I'm telling you, we are going to get through this, one for all and all for one!

Quite simply, we have all had it with the most corrupt, dishonest  and incompetent American administration since Washington crossed the Delaware.

"And this small state," said soon-to-be Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, "by example, is going to lead the country."

Hope everyone's ready, eh?

Big noontime crowd at the Unitarian Church in Burlington on Thursday for the passionate, upbeat "Bernie & the Democrats" pep rally (350-400). House Speaker Gaye Symington got things going as the master of ceremonies. She's slowly getting better at it. In fact, the buzz is building over her gubernatorial ambitions. Lots of folks wondering about Secretary of State Deb Markowitz having similar ambitions, too.

I know, what about Scudder Parker? Wish I knew. He took some kind of little shot at "the liberal press" during his rally address today. Don't think he was referring to the Freeps?  Maybe the Rutland Herald/Times Argus and the Brattleboro Reformer coming out for his incumbent Republican rival, Gov. Jim Douglas, earned the smack.

I know - the Brattleboro Reformer? It didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Meanwhile, Lite-Gov challenger, State Sen. Matt Dunne, continues to gain momentum and name-recognition. He certainly has gotten Doobie-Doo's attention. Not-to-be-UnDone was positively delighted to tell us about a negative Brian Dubie TV attack ad that started running on Wednesday. However, he said Doobie-Doo filmed the wrong state senate seat - it wasn't his!

Anyway, for the pros in this game, it's the season when the folks behind the scenes get a little credit. In Ol' Bernardo's case, two on the list are Phil Fiermonte and Jeff Weaver (with the cell phone).

Weaver, the former Marine from Franklin County, is Bernie's experienced chief-of-staff on Capitol Hill. If my memory serves me, Weaver was Bernie's driver 20 years ago when he ran for governor.

Phil, a Newport, Vermont native, is the top-dog on the Sanderistas' Vermont staff, and a longtime key player in the Green Mountain State's unique and original Progressive political movement. Fiermonte's a former city councilor in Burlap, too. And I still remember meeting him on Election Night 1981 in the Burlington City Clerk's Office - the night longshot leftist Bernie Sanders won da' mayor's office by 10 votes. The night the miracle happened.

Each has been with Ol' Bernardo on-and-off, in one capacity or another since Ronald Reagan was president.

Yes, they're feeling pretty good the last few days as the impending reality starts to sink in. The New York Times even had a team in town today to interview their man. 

Yes, it's been a long road for these two Vermont kids. And the best is yet to come!

As Congressional hopeful Peter Welch put it today:

"People ask if Bernie Sanders is ready for the United States Senate. The real question is - 'Is the United States Senate ready for Bernie Sanders?'"

We'll see, won't we?

They move well together. Smoothly. Like an old couple. Two tall guys with white hair (where it grows) who were born way back during the bloodbath we call World War II.  One in Brooklyn, New York, one in Montpelier, Vermont. The Queen City on the Lake - Burlington, Vermont - brought them together and launched their political careers - one as state's attorney, one as mayor. And trust me - they're on the same page when determining good guys and bad guys.

Wednesday afternoon they stood shoulder-to-shoulder at Ol' Bernardo's Campaign HQ in Burlington. At the moment, they said, nobody can predict what'll happen next Tuesday, but, "The Democrats have a chance to win the Senate," said soon-to-be U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders.

That would make Patrick Leahy, the Montpeculiar kid, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Please, God!

St. Patrick would also be #2 on Senate Agriculture and #3 on Senate Appropriations. The former Vermont county prosecutor (from the Richard Nixon, Vietnam War/Watergate era) has been working down there near Foggy Bottom one hell of a long time. Seniority, seniority, seniority.  Brighter days are coming. Said Leahy:

"I can’t think of anything that’s going to make me happier on January3rd than to walk down that center aisle of the United States Senate andwatch Bernie Sanders take that very moving oath of office as a UnitedStates Senator."

Sen. Sanders' committee assignments are yet to be determined.  Banking?  Foreign Relations? Environment? Veterans Affairs? Think anyone's worried?

Should be fun. Already the Brits are taking notice. "Vermont Poised to Elect America's First Socialist Senator" writes The Guardian in today's edition:

Amid the furious debate over Iraq and the speculation that George Bush may be a lame duck after next Tuesday's mid-term elections, an extraordinary political milestone is approaching: a cantankerous 65-year-old called Bernie looks set to become the first socialist senator in US history.

Bernie Sanders is so far ahead in the contest for Vermont's vacant seat for the US Senate that it seems only sudden illness or accident could derail his rendezvous with destiny, after eight terms as the state's only congressman. His success flies in the face of all the conventional wisdom about American politics.

The Guardian's Julian Borger took our advice and called John McClaughry. Hey, got to get both sides. Besides, Vermont's most vocal conservative sourpuss gives good bite.

We asked Bernie if his well-dressed and ineffective Republican opponent Richie Rich Tarrant had surprised him with anything he did in his grossly lavish and puzzling $7 million campaign. Replied Ol' Bernardo:

"To be honest with you, what Mr. Tarrant has done is runa pretty traditional, 2006 Karl Rovian-type campaign. He hasspent a great deal of money running what many people consider to be themost negative campaign in Vermont history. In this case it has not worked and I think in many ways it hasbackfired. But to tell you the truth I think we kind of anticipatedwhat would happen."

And in anticipation, Sanders had an extraordinary grassroots campaign effort. Vermont's all-time biggest.

"We knocked on close to 70,000 doors. We have 8000 individualcontributors...andwe have moblized close to 2000 volunteers. I think that’s something’sthat’s unprecedented and we’re very proud of that effort. What excites me very much is the turnouts have been phenomenal. There’sa lot of excitement. People are ready for change. They want to endone-party government."

Yes they do. Very, very, very much.

P.S. On today's plate: Big noontime rally for the Democrat/Independent ticket at the Unitarian Church in Burlington today. Pat & Bernie & Welchie. Scudder and Matt Dunne, too.

Meanwhile, Republicans appear to be laying rather low. Gov. Jim Douglas will, however,  be saying a few words at the Annual Governor's Conference on Recreation at Lake Morey at 4 p.m.

It was like the good old days, as former Gov. Howard Dean sat down for about 40 minutes Wednesday morning with a table full of veteran Vermont reporters in the back room at Democrat Campaign HQ on the Burlington Waterfront.  Ross Sneyd (AP) and Darren Allen (Rutland Herald/Times Argus) drove in from Montpeculiar. John Dillon (VPR), Sam Hemingway (Freeps) and Stew Ledbetter (WPTZ-TV) also attended and fired questions at the national star.

Surprisingly, the biggest local TV news station, WGOP, er, WCAX-TV, aka “Vermont’s Own,” did not make it. Well, maybe not too surprising, eh?

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee (a born-and-raised Goldwater Republican, let’s not forget), told the gang that if next Tuesday’s election were held today, his party - the Democratic Party - would win back a majority in the House and the vote in the Senate would be a tie, as of today.

Chairman Dean said he’s feeling “optimistic.” He said “People want change and they’re going to get change.”

Ho-Ho also looked into his 2007 crystal ball and predicted a raise in the minimum wage, an interest rollback on college loans, a middle-class tax cut and NO tax cuts for oil companies with Democrats in power on Capitol Hill. 

Dean also promised, “There will be no vindictiveness.”

Though he compared Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to the Nixon-Agnew administration of the Vietnam War era (1969-74), Americans, said Dean, will not see what he called,  “extensive impeachment hearings” of President George W. Bush. Rather, he said, we need to concentrate on bringing the country back together. Said Ho-Ho:

“The worst thing George Bush has done to this country is not the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. It’s not the huge deficits - all of which are really bad. The worst thing this president has done is divide us bitterly and I think what the American people want is for us to be put back together again and given hope. You can’t do that if you’re spending all your time trying to impeach the president.”

Besides, added Howard:

“There is a practical consideration. Should you impeach the president, you end up with Dick Cheney. How’d you like those apples?”

Good point, eh?

I realize Vermont's lieutenant-governor’s race between Doobie-Doo, the incumbent Republican, and Not-to-be-UnDone, the Democrat challenger, is important, but so was the 2000 presidential election. Remember the consequences?

And the British/Irish press reported on Tuesday that the candidate who received the most votes in that presidential race by about a half-million - and still lost - has been hired by the British Government to lobby the U.S. government on global warming.

What a world, eh?

The BBC reported Tuesday:

A report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%.

But taking action now would cost just 1% of global gross domestic product, the 700-page study says.

Tony Blair said the Stern Review showed that scientific evidence of global warming was "overwhelming" and its consequences "disastrous".

Goodness gracious. And just a couple months ago, our GOP Congressional hopeful Martha Rainville considered global warming an unproven theory!

Anyway, if you get a moment, do check out where the Redcoats are going on global warming, will ya? And see how right now, the U.S. - the Bush administration - is their prime political target.

Now a little Ho-Ho....

Howard Dean was in hometown Burlington Tuesday. Had the rumpled suit and the Vermont state tie. Looked like he could use some sleep, but he’s looked like that since he first got caught up in the presidential swirl back in 2003. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee turns 58 on November 17.

Time flies.

First met Howard in 1980. I was a rookie reporter. He was a rookie politician. We’re still at it. Just a couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of greeting Dr. Dean and wife Judy on their two-wheelers on the Waterfront Bikepath that Citizen Dean fought to establish a quarter century ago. Thanks, Ho-Ho. Keeps me going.

Tuesday Howard hit little Champlain Park in downtown Burlap to endorse Matt Dunne for Lite-Gov. Four years after leaving Montpelier’s Fifth Floor, Gov. Dean is still trying to pass that Democratic Party torch to somebody in Vermont. Instead, in the post-Dean “era,” Vermont's governor and lieutenant governor seats have been in Republican hands.

Interesting.

Some of us who remember the earlier versions of Howard Dean have had quite a few chuckles over the latest models. We remember Ho-Ho as a moderate who could talk banker talk. A Democratic governor who built his winning Statehouse coalition with Republicans and conservative Blue Dog Democrats. The liberals and the progressives - the Vermont political left - were his enemy back then. But at Tuesday’s presser, the new Howard Dean shamelessly denied it all.

"None of that’s true. I haven’t changed at all. I still believe, and very much expect, that should the Democrats win, should Matt win, you will see a continued Democratic presence in terms of being fiscally responsible and socially progressive. I think that’s what I was and I think that’s what Matt will be.  And I think that’s what the Democratic Party will be as we begin  the process of healing the country."

He’s a real smoothie, isn’t he?

But why didn’t you pass the torch to Doug Racine when you left office in 2002?

“We’re not getting into [that], I’m here to support Matt. I‘ll be back next week. I’ll be happy to talk to you all about anything next week.”

Matt Dunne was clearly enjoying it. Not-to-be-UnDunne is the only candidate for Lite-Gov in the country who’s getting a photo-op endorsement from the head of his party. This son of a civil-rights activist from the 1960s is certainly making a race out of this baby. Dunne's articulate and aggressive. If no one gets over 50 percent of the votes cast, will you support the top vote getter when it goes to the legislature?

"I will. I made that clear four years ago. I will say that I think we need to change the way that we do elect the lieutenant governor and governor, and I’ve been clear on that as well, because I think a majority standard is more appropriate. But I stick by my commitment. I made a commitment four years ago and I will stick by it. I want to be clear also I have every intention of getting more than 50 percent of the vote.”

Did Ol’ Matt leave the door open?  I mean, if nobody gets 50 percent and let's say Dubie did get a few more votes from Vermonters than Dunne got, would Not-to-be-UnDone really “order” Democrat legislators not to put his name on January’s secret ballot?

Would the Democrats follow such an order?