Shumlin is a horrible jerk. Vermont finances were out of balance in the 1990s due to Democrat stupidity, but the budget was fixed by none other than Howard Dean.
Now the first thing Shumlin did was to pass a Mitt-type health insurance bill, without spending any time at all considering how it would be paid for. Never mind those unimportant little details was his obvious way of thinking. It will take care of itself.
Yeah he won narrowly over Dubie (I remember following several races election night)
Wikipedia:
>>On November 2, 2010, Shumlin was elected Governor, receiving 117,561 votes to 113,227 for Republican Brian Dubie.
(I think it was even closer on election night itself but the 4,000 vote margin may have been after absentee etc votes
were finally counted)
>>On April 26, 2011, Governor Shumlin appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show via telephone where he discussed health care reform in his state. He said he believes in health care for all and stressed repeatedly “health care as a right, not a privilege”.
On May 26, 2011, “Vermont became the first state to lay the groundwork for single-payer health care...when [Governor Shumlin] signed an ambitious bill aimed at establishing universal insurance coverage for all residents”.[13]