[Verginius Rufus]

Coolidge was a genuine Vermonter. There have only been two Presidents who were born in Vermont, and both got into the White House because the President died in office--the other was Chester A. Arthur. There was one other VP who was born in Vermont--Levi Morton, VP under Benjamin Harrison. All three were elected from bigger states (NY or Massachusetts).

Howard Dean is a faux Vermonter, a flatlander from New York who moved to Vermont. There was a recent column, by Jonah Goldberg if I'm not mistaken, about the influx of undesirables who have taken over Vermont.

[FUMETTI]

I know, Dean is a born and bred Lon-Guylander (I am as well, but not the Hampton snobs but a Suffolk County Patchogue joe) and he has as much in common with Vermont as Billy Graham has with the Chicken Ranch in Reno.

True facts about Chester Arthur: 1. he may not have been born in Vermont, but actually Canada, as his preacher dad and his mother was supposedly in Quebec when he was born...but that may be crap by political opponents, the same people who said Grover Cleveland fathered a child out of wedlock. 2: I lived near York in Livingston County, NY where Arthur and his family lived for 8 years or so (his father preached at a church that is still there!). That town makes a lot of hay over that fact!