Eyewitness to Horror! 

Party Pooper! -- Surely everyone is feeling bad for the Vermont Progressive Party these days. Our beloved self-righteous lefties are under attack from, of all places, the democratic system.

Progressive Party Chair Martha Abbott was on Vermont Public Radio Tuesday morning lamenting the fact that their September 14 primary ballot is full -- full of candidates who do not have the blessing of the tiny cadre that runs the Prog Party.

Even though it's officially been Vermont's third "major" party since 1999, most Vermonters think of the Progressives as the party of Anthony Pollina and a quartet of state reps from Burlap. But Tony the Prog is sitting this one out.

A little history: Anthony hit the scene many years ago as the central Vermont version of the then "progressive" mayor of Burlington -- Bernie Sanders. Anthony added a close-to-the-land agricultural touch that Big City Bernie lacked. He founded Rural Vermont. Tony even went to work for Bernie when Sanders became Vermont's congressman.

But the two differed on one key point: Pollina and many of Sanders' Burlington disciples wanted to start their own official political party.

Actually, Sanders first ran for office in the 1970s under a party label but abandoned it after a few inglorious attempts.

In the 1980s, Ol' Bernardo always ran for mayor under the "Independent" tag, shunning the "Progressive Coalition" label of all the other Sanderistas in Burlap.

Sanders is determinedly a party of one and on Capitol Hill forms his own coalitions to advance his pet issues. It certainly works for him, eh?

Meanwhile, in the 1990s, Pollina and the Sanderistas pressed on with party building. They eventually pulled it off in 1999, just in time for the 2000 gubernatorial campaign.

That was the year of the Big, Bad Civil-Unions Election. It followed the turbulent legislative battle over marriage rights for same-sex couples. With Republican firebrand Ruthless Ruth Dwyer and her conservative gay-bashing, religious diehards all pumped up, things looked a bit dicey for Democratic Gov. Howard Dean.

Those who remember Dean before his transformation to national stardom recall what a law-and-order conservative he really was. Ho-Ho regularly aligned himself with Statehouse Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats to checkmate the liberal agenda championed by the leadership of his own party.

The Progs despised Dean. The liberal Ds considered him a sellout to his rich-kid roots. But the Republicans loved him -- at least until gay marriage hit the fan in 2000.

Gov. Dean, however, did the right thing on civil unions, overcoming even his own initial personal and political fears. The November 2000 election was to be the test. So why was Anthony Pollina jumping in the governor's race?

Well, to have a party, of course!

Pollina starred that fall in the gubernatorial debates. Ruth... well, Ruth was Ruth, and Dean had to take shots from both of them. If Ho-Ho got less than 50 percent of the vote, the race would have been be thrown to the legislature.

Can you say Gov. Dwyer?

The 2000 election results indicate that Vermont voters are indeed above average. They can do the math. Enough of them -- a couple thousand -- held their noses and voted one last time for Howard Dean for governor, even though their hearts were with Anthony.

Dean won with 50.1 percent of the votes cast.

In 2002, Pollina ran for Lite-Gov, achieving what he had been unable to achieve two years earlier: He became a full-fledged spoiler and got a Republican elected.

No one in Vermont has a greater appreciation of and affection for Anthony Pollina than Republican Lit. Gov. Brian Dubie.

No one.

In 2002, without the fear of Ruthless Ruth, voters weren't as worried about the math. Besides, it was only the "unimportant" office of Lite-Gov that was at stake.

Having competed now in two statewide elections, Vermont's third major party has regrouped for the 2004 race. Pollina is sitting it out. The Progs decided against running a Prog candidate for governor (they're content, obviously, with political cross-dresser Peter Clavelle).

They also decided against running a candidate for state treasurer. Or attorney general. Or auditor of accounts. Or secretary of state.

Pretty minor "major" party, eh?

This year the Progs have decided to put all their eggs in one basket -- lieutenant governor.

State Rep. Steve Hingtgen of Burlington is the man. Hingtgen's an articulate Iowa transplant with an easygoing style and an appreciation of fine beer.

The Vermont Progressive Party was expecting a very quiet 2004 election. Unfortunately, democracy has screwed up their best-laid plans.

"Invaders" -- folks with ties to the even smaller "minor" party known as Liberty Union -- have registered as candidates in the Progressive Party Primary.

Liberty Union is the gaggle of eccentric, though good-natured, political geese that first took flight way back in the Vietnam War era of the late 1960s. Its leadership included the irrepressible Peter Diamondstone of Brattleboro and a colorful cast.

Leunig's Old World Cafe founder and former owner Dennis Morrisseau was the Liberty Union candidate for Congress in 1970. He received 2.2 percent of the vote.

A tall, skinny loudmouth from Brooklyn named Bernie Sanders was the Liberty Union candidate for governor in 1972. He got 1.1 percent of the vote. In 1974, Ol' Bernardo -- then Young Bernardo -- got 4.4 percent in the U.S. Senate race as the L.U. candidate.

Got to start somewhere, eh?

Even current Progressive Party Chair Martha Abbott has Liberty Union roots!

Martha did much better than Bernie in 1974. Abbott got 5.4 percent of the vote as the Liberty Union candidate for governor!

A disturbed Martha Abbott told VPR's Bob Kinzel this week that the Progressives are not happy with the Liberty Union mischief-makers. They've even organized a defense of their party purity.

Abbott told Kinzel Prog Party loyalists will be asked to write in a party-approved slate of candidates in the primary. At least one, Rep. Bernie Sanders, is not even a member of their party.

Not to worry.

Martha said the plan is for all Progressive Party-sponsored candidates -- except their Budweiser-friendly Lite-Gov candidate -- to decline the Progressive Party nomination should they win, leaving the slots blank on the party's November ballot.

Abbott also said she will reach out to the Vermont Republican Party, which also has a couple mischief-makers entered in their primary. The goal is to come up with a law that will ban such major-party headaches in the future. Massachusetts, she noted, requires candidates to get 10 percent support at the party convention in order to qualify for a spot on the ballot.

That's right, Progressive Martha is reaching out to the Republicans.

Whew!

Somewhere along the way, the old Liberty Unionite-turned-Progressive has forgotten one of the most important adjectives associated with the word democracy: "open," as in "open democracy."

Sounds like Vermont's far left has no qualms about joining up with Vermont's far right to close the door on participation in one of the most open undertakings a democracy experiences -- elections.

Interesting.

The fact is, if the Vermont Progressive Party truly was a major party in anything but name, it wouldn't have to sweat outsiders invading their primary. It'd have a popular message and its own good candidates.

The way things are going, the Vermont Progs might better be called the Jumbo Shrimp Party.