The Scoreboard: This Week's Winners and Losers

So who won and lost the week in Vermont news and politics?

Big boxes, prisons, pandas, tans, Republican unity, Putney nudity, Waterbury canneries and…. Vermont Health Connect. Duh.

Here’s the Scoreboard for the week of Friday, November 8:

Winners:

Jeff Davis — With an assist from Gov. Peter Shumlin, Vermont’s biggest big-box store developer won a promise this week from the Preservation Trust of Vermont and the Vermont Natural Resources Council that both will drop their opposition to his proposed Derby Wal-Mart. In exchange, developer Jeff Davis agreed to pony up $200,000 to the Preservation Trust for remediation efforts in Orleans County, while the state promised to appropriate another $500,000 for downtown tax credits. Davis also pledged to refrain from proposing future Walmarts in the state until 2020. Runner-up loser: VNRC executive director Brian Shupe, who spent years fighting Walmarts while working at Smart Growth Vermont, and looked visibly pained at the deal’s announcement Wednesday. He called it “bittersweet.”

Gov. Peter Shumlin — Terry McAuliffe’s narrow victory in Virginia’s closely watched gubernatorial race gave Shumlin an important victory in his first year as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. And because he and the DGA effectively distanced themselves from the only other guber race in the country — New Jersey Republican Chris Christie’s reelection romp — they avoided taking blame for the loss. Runner-up winner: Vermont’s own Robby Mook, who solidified his credentials as one of the top political operatives in the country.

Lt. Gov. Phil Scott — A week after the Republican lite gov stood in solidarity with the Democratic gov at a tough health care announcement, Scott managed to scare the Vermont GOP’s conservative chairman out of running for reelection. The next day, he announced he was bringing Republican rock star Chris Christie to town. Looks like Scott’s moderate Republican brand is catching on.