Not if Jim Douglas runs. I think that the governor would beat Sanders. Douglas has been winning elections since 1972. The only time he lost was when he ran against Pat Leahy in 1992. Douglas was outspent by more than 10-to-1 in a year when George H.W. Bush lost Vermont overwhelmingly. But even then, Douglas lost by only 11% and ran far ahead of the top of his ticket. Last year, Douglas beat a Sanders protoge' easily, running well ahead of the current President Bush.
But Dubie is also very popular. He got 54.7% of the vote to 37.9% and 6.2% for the 2 pinko candidates.
If Dubie runs we have a credible candidate who CAN defeat Sanders and at the same time we should probably be able to keep the Governors office as well.
BTW, I think it is worth noting that in 1994 the GOP actually made a credible effort to defeat Sanders. They ran a legitimate (but not very well known) candidate, spent a good deal of money and kept Sanders under 50% of the vote. It wasn't quite enough but it demonstrates what can be done towards turning this state around.