As goes Maine, so goes Vermont.
1968
Acctually, that quote comes from 1936. Maine had early voting (sometime in October, I think) so it was always used as an indicator of where the country was headed. It was once said "As Maine goes, so goes the country". In 1936, people thought that FDR was a sure loser, because he lost in Maine. However, on election day, only Vermont followed the trend. Political analysists quiped "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont".
He was pointing out that 1968 bucked the trend (Maine voted for Humphrey, while Vermont voted for Nixon--which, as I pointed out, was probably almost entirely due to the fact that Ed Muskie of Maine was #2 on the Democratic ticket).
Vermont and Maine have voted together on all but two occasions since the creation of the Republican party--1912 (which was just weird) and 1968 (Muskie factor). Before 1856, they had a generallly split record, voting together only in 1840 (Harrison landslide), 1824/1828 (Adams' landslides in New England), and 1820 (Monroe super-landslide).
