My internship with the Dubie campaign is over. Here is a profile of one of the candidates for governor, Doug Racine.
Racine has been a state senator from 1983-1992, including three years as senate president pro Tempore. From 1997-2003 he was the Lieutenant governor of Vermont under Howard Dean. He ran for governor in 2002 against Jim Douglas and lost 45-42-13. In 2006 he was elected senator from Chittenden County, the most populated County in the state.
Advantages: Leadership, experience, location and name recognition. As president pro Tempore, he was in charge of the democratic caucus, and helped draft and pass tough budgets in the recession of 91. On Racine’s site he boasts his 25 years experience in government. Six years as lieutenant governor, 12 combined years as a senator, 3 as leadership, people know who he is. Since he’s from Chittenden county, he has home field advantage in an area which could have anywhere from ¼ to ½ of the democratic primary electorate. Further, no other candidate is from North Western Vermont, meaning his support won’t be diluted through regional means. He has already announced his issue (to be discusses later) as healthcare calling for a single payer system in Vermont. He has the backing of three major unions, which could help with GOTV. Plus Racine has already faced and defeated his republican opponent, Brian Dubie, before, back in 2000.
Disadvantages: It’s been how long since he was relevant? Racine has long since been yesterday’s news, he just can’t seem to handle that. His primary senatorial experience was in the eighties, his leadership in the last year of the eighties and first year of the nineties, and lieutenant governor experience in the mid nineties. Further, he’s already had his chance to become governor in 2002 and lost a race that should have been his. He is essentially the AL Gore of the race (Circa 2002). His main experience was decades ago, his 2nd in command experience was years ago, he lacked the charisma of his counter part (Howard Dean) and he only re-entered politics in 2006 to set himself up to try again to be governor. He was the first to announce his intent, only to get attention as the only candidate in the race. Also in regards to healthcare, one, Shumlin Co-opted that issue earlier this year and two look at how well that issue worked for Obama and national democrats. His fundraising has been subpar, he’s raised less than anyone but Susan Bartlett putting him fourth of the five candidates, despite being in the race the longest. His only ad is somewhat boring and claims “our way of life is under attack,” without saying what is attacking our way of life. He seemed fear mongering, but doing it very opaquely. His time has passed.
http://www.7dvt.com/2009past-p…