A Potential Vermont
Barnburner
By Chris Graff, Host of Vermont
Public Television's "Vermont
This Week"
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It could be one of the most exciting elections Vermont has ever seen - or it could be one of the most boring. The decision of U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., will determine which it is. Sanders, the only independent in the House, is considering whether to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican James Jeffords. If he does, the contest will pit two of the state's most popular politicians against each other and will open up Vermont's sole seat in the House.
Originally Sanders' decision was expected in the summer of 1999, but as that season passed it became clear that Sanders was in no rush to make known his intentions. House Democrats were doing all they could to encourage him to stay (Although an independent, Sanders organizes with the Democrats), in hopes that would make it easier for them to gain a majority in the House, while Senate Democrats wooed him because he is clearly their best chance of ousting Jeffords. Political analysts are split over whether a Sanders' Senate bid is likely.
If Sanders does not run for the Senate, state Auditor of Accounts Ed Flanagan is planning on challenging Jeffords. Flanagan, a Democrat, who was the nation's first openly gay statewide elected official, has already raised more than $200,000 for a possible Senate bid. Also considering a possible Senate bid is Democratic state Sen. Jan Backus, who ran against Jeffords in 1994.
If Sanders does run for the Senate, Flanagan says he will run for Sanders' seat. It is not yet clear what Backus will do. She has said she feels the Democrats should have a candidate in the Senate race even if Sanders does run. On the Republican side, state Treasurer James Douglas says he will run for the House seat if Sanders does not.
Jeffords is a moderate who has voted with the Democrats and President Clinton more than any other Republican senator. But Sanders and other potential opponents say those votes cannot mask the fact Jeffords is still a Republican and will line up with the Republicans on very crucial partisan votes. Jeffords touts his chairmanship of the Senate committee that oversees health and education issues as evidence of his clout in the Senate.
Vermont's other U.S. Senate seat is held by Democrat Patrick Leahy, who was first elected in 1974. Leahy barely won election in 1974 and re-election in 1980 but has enjoyed easy re-election victories since then. Leahy's seniority is seen as a real benefit in the state. He is sixth in seniority among the Democrats and 11th overall. His post as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee has brought the state millions of dollars in assistance.
Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat who as lieutenant governor became governor in 1991 upon the death of Republican Gov. Richard Snelling, plans to seek re-election to another two-year term in 2000. His 1998 Republican opponent, Ruth Dwyer, is planning on a rematch. Dwyer feels her 1998 campaign started late and was under-funded so she hired a campaign manager in the fall of 1999 and started gathering campaign funds even before then in hopes of building upon her showing in 1998. Another Republican, lawyer William Mueb, says he will seek the nomination as well.
Dean is very popular and has steered a middle of the road course for the state, taking conservative stands on fiscal issues but more liberal stands on social issues. He assumed office as the state was coming out of a recession and faced several years of deficits. But once the recession was over, the state economy enjoyed one of the longest and strongest periods of growth ever. State taxes began generating huge surpluses, allowing for tax reductions and program expansions.
For a century, from the 1850s to the 1950s, Vermont was the most Republican state in the nation. In that time no Democrat won a single statewide or federal office. But that began to change in the 1960s and Vermont has now become one of the most progressive states in the nation. Nothing shows that more than the election of Sanders to the House. Sanders considers himself a socialist and runs as an independent, highly critical of the two major national parties. The fact that he would be a strong candidate for the U.S. Senate is a sign of how much the state has changed.
