[DM1]

"What Republican could win a statewide senatorial race in Vermont?
"
Their Governor is fairly popular guy named Douglass or something
he could probably make it a contest but i think he does not want to get into a race he may lose

[DoraC]

Their Governor is fairly popular guy named Douglass or something he could probably make it a contest but i think he does not want to get into a race he may lose

A few polls showed him losing by something like 20% to Sanders. People in blue states make fundamentally different choices for governor and senator. They're OK with a Republican governor, because they guard the state's budget and can always be overridden by a liberal legislature, but they have to have a liberal Demonrat for Senator.