Out In The Mountains : News - Lieut. Governor Campaign Heats Up

     Former state Senator Cheryl Rivers, a Democrat, formally announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor as we were going to press. Rivers has been endorsed by openly gay state Representative Bill Lippert (D-Hinesburg). Rivers was in the Senate for 11 years, and was the first woman elected to the Senate from Windham County.       Former state Sen. Jan Backus also has been running since last October, although she has not yet held a formal campaign kickoff party. Backus is working with Orange County Democratic Party activist Linda Weiss, who engineered state Sen. Mark McDonald's return to office two years after he was defeated following his vote to support civil unions. Backus served in the state Senate for a decade and has run two statewide campaigns for U.S. Senate, in 1994 and 2000.
       Both women are focused on health care issues and on defeating current Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, citing his opposition to civil unions and women's right to choose abortion, and his support for school vouchers. At a campaign appearance in Franklin County, Backus asked rhetorically whether Vermonters wanted a man with those beliefs to be casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate. However, with the Senate currently split 19 Democrats to 11 Republicans, tie-breakers appear unlikely, at least this session.
      The campaign buzz suggests that Rep. Steve Hingten (P-Burlington) is joining the field of lieutenant gubernatorial candidates, and Progressive Anthony Pollina's plans are still a question mark. The Progressives say they offer an alternative to politics as usual under the Democrats and Republicans, while Democrats point to the splitting of votes between Democratic and Progressive Party candidates as responsible for the election of Dubie and Republican
Governor James Douglas.

Other Campaign Notes:
      And in a long-awaited announcement, former Governor Howard Dean put an end to his active campaign for the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States. The now former candidate thanked his many supporters, celebrated his campaign's
success in restoring a backbone and a sense of mission to the national Democratic Party, and vowed to keep presenting issues. Dean declined to endorse any other candidate for the moment, declared he would not run as a third-party or independent candidate, and urged his supporters not to vote for any third-party candidate.
        Meanwhile, the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force has apparently begun its campaign to replace civil unions with equal marriage (see Sherry Corbin's opinion piece in this month's Views section). As we reported last month, state Rep. David Zuckerman (P-Burlington) introduced a bill that would allow marriage licenses to be issued to same-sex couples. Couples with civil unions could convert their status to marriage by filling out an application. The bill is not expected to be discussed this session.
       In poll results announced last month by the Human Rights Campaign, 87 percent of the glbt respondents were registered voters, and about three-quarters voted in the last election, with 81 percent voting in the last presidential election. We're here, we're queer, and we're going to the voting booth.
      Stay tuned. It's going to be a long and bumpy ride.