Day 45: Vermont

[jimrtex]

Jimrtex, are the population figures you cited from 2000 or 2005?

The city figures are estimates for 2004.

The urbanized figures are for 2000.

[jimrtex]

I suppose parts of the Mendenhall Valley area are in the Juneau-dominated district.

Senate district B and House districts 3 and 4 are coterminous with Juneau Borough.  Downtown is at the end of the SE end of the green highway.

Overview of Juneau Borough

Mendenhall Valley detail

Airport, Switzer Creek, and Lemon Creek are also in the Juneau Urban Cluster.  Some of Lynn Canal may be, I suspect that population is pretty sparse along the highway to the north.  One of the Juneau precincts is on Douglas Island.  Salmon Creek might represent the gap between the urban clusters.  North Douglas is possibly outside the Juneau South Urban Cluster.

Juneau Precincts

House District 4.
Precinct                  T    K    B
______________________________________
Mendenhall Valley No. 1 1015  409  579
Mendenhall Valley No. 2 1125  396  686
Mendenhall Valley No. 3 1042  384  619
Mendenhall Valley No. 4 1132  451  651
Auke Bay/Fritz Cove      866  373  455
Lynn Canal               631  340  273
Other                   5176 2415 2539
______________________________________
Total                  10987 4768 5802
______________________________________
______________________________________
House District 3
Precinct                  T    K    B
______________________________________
Douglas                  898  521  338
North Douglas            667  426  220
Juneau No. 1             384  260  108
Juneau No. 2             513  398   94
Juneau No. 3             717  507  190
Juneau No. 4             616  349  246
Juneau Airport Area      621  263  340
Lemon Creek              605  255  339
Salmon Creek             447  259  178
Switzer Creek            406  191  205
Other                   5874 3084 2532
______________________________________
Total                  11748 6513 4790
______________________________________

Other includes absentee, early, and provisional votes, and 6 categories of non-full ballots which aren't attributed to precincts.

[Cubby]

VT and CT's voting patterns are pretty much the same.  It's just that Bush's number in CT was inflated by 9/11.  The same can't be said in VT.  Only a few points should separate them in the future.

Thats right. The only difference between our states is that Nader did much better in VT in 2000, hence the Democratic swing there last year.

Although now that I think of it, CT is probably the 2nd most conservative New England state, after NH. But we support gun control while VT doesn't.

I've never actually been to Vermont, so I don't know if its more libertarian/Gun rights- liberal  or hippie commune liberal.

[FerrisBueller86]

Let's get back on-topic for this thread.

What made Vermont so heavily Republican in the past?   Ford won Vermont by double digits in 1976 while still losing the election.   Nixon won Vermont all three times.  Vermont was one of just TWO states that FDR never won.  In fact, I'm not sure if any Democrat EVER won the state before LBJ did in 1964.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Let's get back on-topic for this thread.

What made Vermont so heavily Republican in the past?   Ford won Vermont by double digits in 1976 while still losing the election.   Nixon won Vermont all three times.  Vermont was one of just TWO states that FDR never won.  In fact, I'm not sure if any Democrat EVER won the state before LBJ did in 1964.

Yep, going back to when the popular vote was introduced in 1828, it had never gone Democrat. It went "National-Republican" that election. It has gone Republican 33 times, Parties that no longer exist 7 times, and Democrat only 5 times (1964, and the last 4).

[memphis]

Let's get back on-topic for this thread.

What made Vermont so heavily Republican in the past?   Ford won Vermont by double digits in 1976 while still losing the election.   Nixon won Vermont all three times.  Vermont was one of just TWO states that FDR never won.  In fact, I'm not sure if any Democrat EVER won the state before LBJ did in 1964.

Yep, going back to when the popular vote was introduced in 1828, it had never gone Democrat. It went "National-Republican" that election. It has gone Republican 33 times, Parties that no longer exist 7 times, and Democrat only 5 times (1964, and the last 4).

The Republican Party has changed a lot. It has become reckless with money and much more of a Southern party. New Englanders are very much for the separation of church and state, an issue on which the Republicans are shaky at best. 

[nclib]

Although now that I think of it, CT is probably the 2nd most conservative New England state, after NH.

How is Connecticut more conservative than Maine?

[WalterMitty]

what does the vermont state legislature look like?

anyone know the partisan breakdown off-hand?  are members elected to two year terms, like the governor?

[Cubby]

Although now that I think of it, CT is probably the 2nd most conservative New England state, after NH.

How is Connecticut more conservative than Maine?

Its not, Maine must have slipped my mind. It has 2 Republican Senators and stupid ballot initiatives, its definetely more conservative than Connecticut. If I were to rank the New England states on a liberal-to-conservative scale it would be:

1- Massachusetts
2- Rhode Island
3- Connecticut
4- Vermont
5- Maine
6- New Hampshire

CT and Vermont are probably switchable in that ranking depending on the issue. (i.e. gun control vs. the Iraq War)

[Alcon]

what does the vermont state legislature look like?

anyone know the partisan breakdown off-hand?  are members elected to two year terms, like the governor?

It's 83 Democrat out of 150, so I'm assuming 67 Republicans.  Oddly, the article I found dated 5 January 2005 says that "Democrats triumphantly reclaimed their majority in the House on Wednesday."  I have no idea when they are elected, but apparently it is around New Year's!  Weird.

It also mentions that they gained a larger majority in the Senate.  In any case, the answer to your question is the legislature was mixed until earlier this year, when Democrats absolutely killed the Republicans.

[Cubby]

what does the vermont state legislature look like?

anyone know the partisan breakdown off-hand?  are members elected to two year terms, like the governor?

It's 83 Democrat out of 150, so I'm assuming 67 Republicans.  Oddly, the article I found dated 5 January 2005 says that "Democrats triumphantly reclaimed their majority in the House on Wednesday."  I have no idea when they are elected, but apparently it is around New Year's!  Weird.

It also mentions that they gained a larger majority in the Senate.  In any case, the answer to your question is the legislature was mixed until earlier this year, when Democrats absolutely killed the Republicans.

I think there are a few minor party candidates in the Vermont legislature, either Greens or Progressives. I'll check in the World Almanac and post later.

[jimrtex]

what does the vermont state legislature look like?

House: D 83, R 60, I 7

This was +15D, after a +7D in 2002, +15R in 2000.  Democrats had a small majority before 2000, and GOP held control for 2 elections.

Districts are really tiny (66 single member districts, and 43 two member districts).  The single member districts averaged just over 2000 votes, the double member around 3250, though this might be depressed in cases of an unopposed candidate, or voters only voting once.

Senate: D21, R 9 +2D.

Senators are elected from multimember districts based on counties (at least the names are): 1x6, 3x3, 6x2, 3x1.

[Ben.]

Vermont seems like a nice place to live.

Great Health Care... can't fault Dean there

[Q]

Oddly, the article I found dated 5 January 2005 says that "Democrats triumphantly reclaimed their majority in the House on Wednesday."  I have no idea when they are elected, but apparently it is around New Year's!  Weird.

They were elected in November 2004 like in all the other states and took office on January 4.  Thus the D takeover was not complete until the new Reps actually took office.

[Alcon]

Oddly, the article I found dated 5 January 2005 says that "Democrats triumphantly reclaimed their majority in the House on Wednesday."  I have no idea when they are elected, but apparently it is around New Year's!  Weird.

They were elected in November 2004 like in all the other states and took office on January 4.  Thus the D takeover was not complete until the new Reps actually took office.

Oh, that makes sense.  It was a two-page article in a Boston newspaper, though - that's surprising coverage for the office-taking.

[GOP = Terrorists]

How is Connecticut more conservative than Maine?

Fairfield County combined with strong influence from pharmaceutical and insurance companies and military influence give Connecticut a flavor of conservatism that I don't think is found elsewhere in New England.  Connecticut's conservatism is more corporate based while I see Maine's as more sagebrush based.  So I don't think it is really “more conservative” just differently conservative.

[Buckwheat]

The way I see Vermont is that it has the very conservative feel and environment where you would think that everyone would vote Republican but the people feel completely different than they act.  It seems conservative but it definately isn't...at ALL.  Connecticut has that same feel but a lot more people actually are conservative there than here.