Times Argus
Published: July 18, 2010
Published: July 18, 2010
Vermont Democrats are discovering one of the difficulties created by a contested primary. In the latest campaign finance reports from the six candidates in the governor’s race, Republican Brian Dubie has reported contributions of $943,961. The combined total for the five Democrats in the race is $1,491,375. But because they are battling it out among themselves, win an eye on the August primary, none of them comes close to matching Dubie.
Dubie, the popular lieutenant governor, has managed to carry on a low-key campaign in this early stage, though he also has managed to spend about half of the money he has raised so far. That money is either going toward building a solid foundation for his campaign, or else it is being frittered away.
The Democrats, too, have each spent about half of their contributions, more or less. They are involved in a spirited battle to distinguish themselves from their competitors, and they need to spend the money now.
Secretary of State Deb Markowitz began her campaign early with the aim of locking up some of the major contributors for herself, and her finance figures reflect her success. She leads the pack in fundraising with $523,946 reported so far.
Sen. Susan Bartlett trails the pack, reporting only $70,920 so far. Bartlett issued a statement before the release of the numbers as a kind of preventive strike against what she called the “political pundits” who would deploy the conventional wisdom to assert that her relative lack of money would doom her candidacy. She said she always knew she would raise less money than the other candidates and she planned to run a low-budget campaign. She presents herself as an underdog — like the 2004 Red Sox — and also a Howard Dean Democrat willing to make hard choices about state finances. As chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she has established credibility on financial questions, though she has not necessarily established visibility around the state.
Among the other three Democrats, Sen. Douglas Racine reported raising only $210,158 so far. Former Sen. Matt Dunne has raised $267,861, and Sen. Peter Shumlin has raised $418,490. Racine’s relatively modest sum comes as a surprise given his success in winning several high-profile endorsements from labor organizations and given his long history in Chittenden County politics. Shumlin’s total was boosted by a contribution of $166,787 that he made personally to his campaign.
The difficulty for the Democrats is that they will have to spend a good portion of what they raise just to get past the Aug. 24 primary. Dubie can marshal his resources for the General Election. Even having spent half of what he has raised, he has a healthy advantage over the Democrats so far.
But as Bartlett reminds us, “If money alone determined the outcome of an election, Jack McMullin would have beaten Fred Tuttle.” Jack McMullin was the wealthy Republican who moved to Vermont and soon thereafter entered the race to defeat Sen. Patrick Leahy. He didn’t count on the late Fred Tuttle, the retired and hobbling old farmer from Tunbridge, who used subversive Yankee wit to undermine McMullin’s credibility. How many teats on a cow? McMullin didn’t know. Tuttle won the Republican primary and went on to endorse Leahy.
Bartlett is no Tuttle. She is a serious, if underfunded, candidate. But Dubie is no McMullin; nor is the Democrats’ fundraising leader, Markowitz. All are serious candidates with credible records and diverse strengths and weaknesses. Enter a conversation with Vermont Democrats this summer, and while each of the candidates has committed supporters, many Democrats scratch their heads wondering which of several good candidates to back.
It is a sign of the times that the candidates have gravitated toward positions that have many themes in common. Markowitz has issued an action plan for the economy in order to build jobs. The other candidates have their own proposals for creating jobs.
Dubie, meanwhile, stands firm with what for eight years has been Republican orthodoxy: shrink government and cut taxes. It is a message that resonates with Republicans. The Democratic candidates are betting that Vermonters, after the eight-year administration of Gov. James Douglas, are looking for more. Their battle to win the chance to make that case now enters its critical phase.
Dubie, the popular lieutenant governor, has managed to carry on a low-key campaign in this early stage, though he also has managed to spend about half of the money he has raised so far. That money is either going toward building a solid foundation for his campaign, or else it is being frittered away.
The Democrats, too, have each spent about half of their contributions, more or less. They are involved in a spirited battle to distinguish themselves from their competitors, and they need to spend the money now.
Secretary of State Deb Markowitz began her campaign early with the aim of locking up some of the major contributors for herself, and her finance figures reflect her success. She leads the pack in fundraising with $523,946 reported so far.
Sen. Susan Bartlett trails the pack, reporting only $70,920 so far. Bartlett issued a statement before the release of the numbers as a kind of preventive strike against what she called the “political pundits” who would deploy the conventional wisdom to assert that her relative lack of money would doom her candidacy. She said she always knew she would raise less money than the other candidates and she planned to run a low-budget campaign. She presents herself as an underdog — like the 2004 Red Sox — and also a Howard Dean Democrat willing to make hard choices about state finances. As chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she has established credibility on financial questions, though she has not necessarily established visibility around the state.
Among the other three Democrats, Sen. Douglas Racine reported raising only $210,158 so far. Former Sen. Matt Dunne has raised $267,861, and Sen. Peter Shumlin has raised $418,490. Racine’s relatively modest sum comes as a surprise given his success in winning several high-profile endorsements from labor organizations and given his long history in Chittenden County politics. Shumlin’s total was boosted by a contribution of $166,787 that he made personally to his campaign.
The difficulty for the Democrats is that they will have to spend a good portion of what they raise just to get past the Aug. 24 primary. Dubie can marshal his resources for the General Election. Even having spent half of what he has raised, he has a healthy advantage over the Democrats so far.
But as Bartlett reminds us, “If money alone determined the outcome of an election, Jack McMullin would have beaten Fred Tuttle.” Jack McMullin was the wealthy Republican who moved to Vermont and soon thereafter entered the race to defeat Sen. Patrick Leahy. He didn’t count on the late Fred Tuttle, the retired and hobbling old farmer from Tunbridge, who used subversive Yankee wit to undermine McMullin’s credibility. How many teats on a cow? McMullin didn’t know. Tuttle won the Republican primary and went on to endorse Leahy.
Bartlett is no Tuttle. She is a serious, if underfunded, candidate. But Dubie is no McMullin; nor is the Democrats’ fundraising leader, Markowitz. All are serious candidates with credible records and diverse strengths and weaknesses. Enter a conversation with Vermont Democrats this summer, and while each of the candidates has committed supporters, many Democrats scratch their heads wondering which of several good candidates to back.
It is a sign of the times that the candidates have gravitated toward positions that have many themes in common. Markowitz has issued an action plan for the economy in order to build jobs. The other candidates have their own proposals for creating jobs.
Dubie, meanwhile, stands firm with what for eight years has been Republican orthodoxy: shrink government and cut taxes. It is a message that resonates with Republicans. The Democratic candidates are betting that Vermonters, after the eight-year administration of Gov. James Douglas, are looking for more. Their battle to win the chance to make that case now enters its critical phase.
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