Racine Ponders Another Bid for Vermont Governor

[Adlai Stevenson]

Doug Racine (D) told the Burlington Free Press that he is considering a rematch with Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) next year. Racine lost his 2002 race against Douglas by just 5,871 votes.

Said Racine: "I'd like to be governor some day. I've made no secret about it."

CQ currently rates the race Safe Republican.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/12/06/racine_ponders_another_bid_for_vermont_governor.html

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Doug Racine (D) told the Burlington Free Press that he is considering a rematch with Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) next year. Racine lost his 2002 race against Douglas by just 5,871 votes.

Said Racine: "I'd like to be governor some day. I've made no secret about it."

CQ currently rates the race Safe Republican.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/12/06/racine_ponders_another_bid_for_vermont_governor.html

It really should be more "Strong Republican" than safe.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Still lost in 2002, now that Douglas has won twice since then I see no chance.  Also remember 5,000 votes in VT is still pretty big margin considering how few people there are.

[Erc]

Racine probably could have been governor had he wanted to...Douglas didn't win a majority in 2002, and it gets thrown to the state legislature when no-one gets a majority.

Vermont's pretty Democratic, but they seem to like Douglas...I was surprised by how much he won by last year.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Racine probably could have been governor had he wanted to...Douglas didn't win a majority in 2002, and it gets thrown to the state legislature when no-one gets a majority.

Vermont's pretty Democratic, but they seem to like Douglas...I was surprised by how much he won by last year.

Vermont likes their centrist Republicans. Look at the Senators they've elected over the past few decades -- George Aiken, Robert Stafford, Jim Jeffords... All pretty moderate. Douglas would probably have a good chance at either the House or a Senate seat in a more favorable Republican climate. After all, Pat Leahy is the only Democrat that's ever been elected to the Senate from Vermont.

[MarkWarner08]

Racine probably could have been governor had he wanted to...Douglas didn't win a majority in 2002, and it gets thrown to the state legislature when no-one gets a majority.

Vermont's pretty Democratic, but they seem to like Douglas...I was surprised by how much he won by last year.

Racine displayed a great measure of integrity, a rare quality for most politicians. After promising not to contest the election in the legislature, Racine stuck to his word, even though the Democratic State House would've chosen him as the next Governor of Vermont.

[Kevinstat]

I remember reading that the VT State House was still Republican after 2002, but the overall majority in the Legislature which was the key factor returned to the Democrats in that election.  I could be wrong, however.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I remember reading that the VT State House was still Republican after 2002, but the overall majority in the Legislature which was the key factor returned to the Democrats in that election.  I could be wrong, however.

Republicans picked up the VT State House in 2000 because of a gay marriage backlash; Democrats controlled it in 1998.  They held on to the State House in 2002, but just barely, after giving back a whole bunch of seats that they probably never should have won in the first place.

[Verily]

I remember reading that the VT State House was still Republican after 2002, but the overall majority in the Legislature which was the key factor returned to the Democrats in that election.  I could be wrong, however.

Republicans picked up the VT State House in 2000 because of a gay marriage backlash; Democrats controlled it in 1998.  They held on to the State House in 2002, but just barely, after giving back a whole bunch of seats that they probably never should have won in the first place.

Did the Republicans still have a majority in 2002? I thought 2002 was when they were a plurality with the VT Progressives holding the balance of power.

[MarkWarner08]

I remember reading that the VT State House was still Republican after 2002, but the overall majority in the Legislature which was the key factor returned to the Democrats in that election.  I could be wrong, however.

Republicans picked up the VT State House in 2000 because of a gay marriage backlash; Democrats controlled it in 1998.  They held on to the State House in 2002, but just barely, after giving back a whole bunch of seats that they probably never should have won in the first place.

Did the Republicans still have a majority in 2002? I thought 2002 was when they were a plurality with the VT Progressives holding the balance of power.

Democrats + Progressives were in control of the State House in 2002. That's why Racine's gesture was so magnanimous.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Did the Republicans still have a majority in 2002? I thought 2002 was when they were a plurality with the VT Progressives holding the balance of power.

Okay, yes, Republicans held a "plurality."  Here are the total figures:

73 Republicans
70 Democrats
4 Progressives
3 Independents

Democrats + Progressives were in control of the State House in 2002. That's why Racine's gesture was so magnanimous.

Apparently, magnanimous is a synonym for politically necessary.

[Verily]

Did the Republicans still have a majority in 2002? I thought 2002 was when they were a plurality with the VT Progressives holding the balance of power.

Okay, yes, Republicans held a "plurality."  Here are the total figures:

73 Republicans
70 Democrats
4 Progressives
3 Independents

Ah, okay, so no one really had the balance of power (unless some of the independents were effectively Democrats or Republicans).

[MarkWarner08]

Did the Republicans still have a majority in 2002? I thought 2002 was when they were a plurality with the VT Progressives holding the balance of power.

Okay, yes, Republicans held a "plurality."  Here are the total figures:

73 Republicans
70 Democrats
4 Progressives
3 Independents

Democrats + Progressives were in control of the State House in 2002. That's why Racine's gesture was so magnanimous.

Apparently, magnanimous is a synonym for politically necessary.

According to the 2008 Almanac of American Politics, Racine had enough votes in the State House to be elected Governor.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

According to the 2008 Almanac of American Politics, Racine had enough votes in the State House to be elected Governor.

Almanac of American Politics not withstanding, I strongly doubt that Racine would have been able to find the 76 votes he needed to become Governor.  How would you like to be the Democrat representative who just won an election by 100 votes, being asked to overturn a Douglas plurality through a legislative minority using a mechanism a good number of Vermont voters don't even know exists?  Easy call for a safe-seater, but not so for a good chunk of the freshman class.

And let's not forget, Douglas was a popular, moderate, long time statewide office holder that was largely unobjectionable, even to those who voted for Racine.

Plus, there's always that fact that Racine didn't seek to get elected through the legislature, which tends to imply (realistically) that the votes just weren't there.  After all, I wouldn't try to force such a blatant move unless I was sure it'd work.  (And with that close of a split, again, I'd assume it wouldn't.)

[Kevinstat]

I think Racine pleged not to seek election in the Legislature before the 2002 election when the Republicans had a clear majority in the State House and the Democrats only a narrow majority in the State Senate (perhaps State Senators don't help chose the Governor if no candidate gets a majority from what I'm reading here).  From all accounts Republicans had gained control of the State House in 2000 due to the backlash over Vermont's Civil Union law as Mr. Moderate said, although it wasn't enough (not quite) to pull Howard Dean below 50% in 2000 and when Dean and Polina who I imagine also supported the Civil Union law got over 60% (60.03%, give or take .01% based on https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2000&fips=50&f=0&off=5&elect=0 in this site) between them.