of all these candidates, who (from either party) would look to be the most likely to win this seat, in your opinion?
Probably, the Republican Governor, Jim Douglas. But I really doubt he'll run for this seat. Douglas will either run for Senate or stay in his cozy little Governors mansion. Other than Douglas... Peter Welch, maybe? President of the state Senate, on and off, for close to twenty years and, as a lawyer, does commercials for his firm that run on local TV (solid name recognition and media exposure).
I also doubt Douglas will run for House, but Dubie very well could. I don't think any of the other Republicans stand a chance....I have no idea about the IDX guy, but I also don't think he will run for House.
Racine would be strong candidate on the Dem side, as would Welch. I know basically nothing about the other statewide officials on the list.
Clavelle is an interesting possibility. He would be the natural candidate for the seat if he
hadn't run for Governor. But I'm not sure how much of the Democratic Party's good will toward him has now evaporated after his disappointing 2004 campaign though. Perhaps he will run as a Progressive.
