“Should Progs challenge Shumlin in ’14?”

That’s the question Burlington Free Press reporter Terri Hallenbeck put to Vermont Progressive Party leaders in Tuesday’s paper. The occasion for the query was the Progs’ upcoming state committee meeting (at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bethel Town Hall), which will feature an hourlong strategy session focusing, in part, on whether to run a candidate against Gov. Peter Shumlin, a second-term Democrat.

So should they? Maybe. But will they? I highly doubt it. Here are two reasons why:

Reason 1: For a bunch of lefties, Prog Party leaders have become mighty pragmatic.

Since 2008, when Progressive activist Anthony Pollina and Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington split the left-of-center vote and handed Republican governor Jim Douglas a fourth term, the two parties have avoided statewide confrontations. In 2010 and 2012, the Progs flirted with a guber run, but backed out both times, preferring to focus on building their ranks in the legislature.

That strategy has mostly worked. 

Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

7 replies on “Will a Prog Run for Gov? Nope.”

  1. They may as well run a candidate. Petey isn’t getting re-elected anyways so now would be a good time to take another stab at it. Ashe is probably the only one that stands a chance.

  2. In Vermont the political parties need new mascots: the Republicans would have a cat sleeping curled up in the sun. The Democrats would be a dog chasing a car, and the Progressives a bunch of free range chickens.

  3. If the progs don’t run then it should cost the Democrats, its time we got something for staying out.

  4. This boring article could have been spiced up by asking the question whether if the Progs ran and won, would they then withdraw? This innovative strategy, know as the Bookmark Ploy, enabled Martha Abbot to run and then hide.

  5. That assumes that your party’s presence in the race would matter. It doesn’t. With no Republican opposition, Fast Pete doesn’t care whether you’re in or out. Irrelevancies have no bargaining power.

  6. If the progs made a real demonstration of running a candidate the republicans might smell blood in the water and get serious about running. The current situation illustrates the problem with one party rule.

  7. The Repubs might smell blood in the water! Hoo! That’s a good one! You think that the presence of a Prog in the coming gubernatorial election means “blood in the water” for Fast Pete? I think you are a little self-delusional about the Progs significance in a statewide election. Pollina has already run statewide a gazillion times and has never gotten past the mid/high 20s. He’s done, at least against a strong campaigner with a big warchest like Fast Pete. Ashe and Zuckerman are nobodies outside of Chittenden County. And Dean and Douglas both proved that a moderate incumbent will will even with Progs in the race.
    And exactly who would the blood-in-the-water-smelling Repubs run? Scott? He’s already said no. Brock? Not a serious threat. And there’s nobody else.
    I’m not a Shumlin fan. But let’s get real.

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