Free Republic

MONTPELIER — Democratic Vermont Auditor Tom Salmon is switching parties to the GOP. Salmon announced his plans today, saying he is frustrated with the Democrats’ handling of the budget, and says the party has moved too far to the left. Salmon says he plans to run for auditor next year, but says if Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie does not run for governor, there’s a very slim chance he might. Salmon says he’s been considering switching parties for some time and says the Republican party is the closest to accepting the realities of the times. He says when he returned...

Vermont GOP Gov. Jim Douglas announced at a press conference Thursday that he will not seek a fifth term in 2010. “It’s been the great privilege of my life to serve the people of this state whom I know so well,” said Douglas, who won reelection to a fourth two-year term in 2008. “I am ready to write a new chapter in my life.” Douglas did not elaborate on his future plans, but said he will not be running for any elective office next year. “I am not running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House or any other statewide office...

Dubie's decision to run for reelection in 2006 or for Senate has been closely watched in Vermont's political circles and by potential candidates interested in both jobs.

"The man has proved to be an ineffective extremist," said Jim Barnett, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party. We're no longer talking about one out of 435. We're talking about a very powerful position, as one of 100 in the United States Senate."

The web site is a fact and it speaks for itself," Dubie said in an interview Monday. "The election will soon be upon us. But it's still over a year away, but as an incumbent lieutenant governor it's not something that I'm making an announcement (about) anytime today."

Vermont Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie is being pulled in two directions — by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who would like him to run for the House, and by Senate Republicans urging him to seek the seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.).

Dubie said this week he has not made up his mind whether he will seek the job. But he will attend the one-day seminar in Washington, D.C., anyway.

Congressman Bernie Sanders' most likely GOP challengers are Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie and Richard Tarrant, chairman of IDX, a medical software company. In early May, a poll for WCAX-TV put Sanders ahead of Dubie, 59 percent to 23 percent, and ahead of Tarrant, 62 percent to 18 percent.

BARRE, Vt. - Bernie Sanders jabs at the air, his flushed face a sharp contrast to his unruly white hair. Yet again, he pummels Washington, the Congress and the president. "The government that we have today in the White House, the House of Representatives with Tom Delay, the Senate with Bill Frist, is the most right-wing, extremist government, perhaps in the history of the United States," he tells labor activists at a May Day celebration in the century-old Labor Hall. "Time after time they pass legislation that benefits the rich and the powerful, and they pass legislation that hurts the...

BURLINGTON — Gov. Jim Douglas ended more than a week of increasing political speculation Saturday, announcing he would not run for U.S. Senate in 2006. But, his stalwart sidekick, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, quickly stepped up to fill the speculation about who in the GOP will take on U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, who has said he intends to run for the Senate. “I am thinking about it,” Dubie told reporters in a crowded hallway outside Douglas' announcement. Dubie said he would consider a run for U.S. Senate or U.S. House, but not without consulting his family first. “For me, it’s...

Polls covering the VT Governor's race, as recently as this past weekend, showed the Republican candidate down between 5 and 10 points to Democrat Doug Racine. Douglas appears to have squeaked out a narrow victory over Racine. The Lt Governors had been too close to call in a tight three way race. Former air force pilot Brian Dubie appears to have won handily. According to the Vermont constitution both race have to be decided by the Vermont legislature because neither ended with anyone getting 50% of the vote. The legislature appears to have unexpectedly moved from Republican control to a...