Jim Jeffords, Ben, and Jerry Is This What America Wants to Be?

Author: Jonathan White

"This is the most liberal state in the nation," avowed Christopher Graff '75 Thursday evening in Dana Auditorium. Graff, who serves as Montpelier bureau chief for the Associated Press, returned to Middlebury to discuss the workings of Montpelier in a lecture entitled "Is Vermont What America Really Wants To Be? A Look at Politics in the Nation's Quirkiest State." Graff's lecture focused on Vermont's dynamic political history and its current liberal leanings. He also addressed the presidential campaign of former governor Howard Dean.
"Vermont has carved its own path," Graff said, noting everything from Ben and Jerry's to Phish to the state's independent senator, James Jeffords. In reference to Jeffords' historic party shift in 2001, Graff said that the senator's commitment to personal values left him "merely following the independent footsteps of his predecessors."
The lecture began with Graff detailing the varied history of politics in the Green Mountain State. For a century, Vermont was solidly Republican, essentially from 1854 to 1954. The Grand Old Party gained its grip on Vermont in the pre-Civil War days out of Vermonters' disapproval of slavery and commitment to the nation remaining in tact. Following the Civil War, Graff commented that for nearly eight decades the state was run by the Proctor family, including Redfield Proctor, Fletcher Proctor and Redfield Proctor Jr. These were the "vanilla days" of Vermont politics, he explained.
The state was, for the first half of the 20th century, a "backwater" and there was a clear need for economic stimulation, he said. The Great Depression passed somewhat unnoticed here because life was hard and earnings were meager for Vermonters. Graff mentioned that during the first 20 years of the 20th century, the population of the state actually dropped.
Yet by the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, changes were afoot. The state was forced to think beyond its boundaries for financial aid after a massive flood in 1927, and federal money was used to improve infrastructure by paving roads. Electric power grids spread through the state later under the administration of liberal Republican Governor George Aiken.
In the 1950s, IBM chose Burlington for a major center of operations. When the IBM office opened in the late 1950s, 450 people were employed in Vermont's Queen City by the technology company. Today nearly 7,000 are employed in Chittenden County by IBM, according to Graff. Another boon to the economy came in 1958 when Interstate 91 made its way northward out of Massachusetts towards Brattleboro, heralding an influx of tourists and the development of ski resorts. From 1970-1990, the state's population would grow by 27 percent, more than it had grown in a century from 1850-1950.
Graff said these changes all contributed to a revolution in state politics. In 1962, Vermont elected the first non-Republican governor in decades, Philip Hoff of Burlington. According to Graff, Hoff said that his election broke "100 years of bondage."
A further shift in Vermont politics came in the 1960s, when the Supreme Court ordered the redistricting of the state house. Graff said that this shifted political influence away from small towns and towards populated Chittenden County.
Graff then shifted to discussing the recent election of Republican Governor Jim Douglas '72, following the 12-year governorship of Democrat Howard Dean. Douglas' victory came because he championed economic growth and jobs in the state, said Graff, and he carried 10 of the state's 14 counties last November. Douglas, who is from Middlebury, is also the first governor to come from outside Chittenden County since 1977. It was a "personal," not "partisan win," Graff said.
The balance of Graff's speech proceeded with a discussion of Dean's bid for the presidency in 2004. Graff said Dean runs his campaign on the basis that "Vermont is the way America ought to be." Graff continued by suggesting that one of Dean's fundamental problems is overcoming the liberal tag in the national media, a particular concern at the moment as Dean has aligned himself firmly against conflict in Iraq. Yet Graff suggested that Dean offers a "breath of fresh air" that he believes will entice voters. He claimed that the former governor is establishing a solid base for next winter's early primaries in Iowa and South Carolina, and is doing a successful job in polls against Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in New Hampshire.
Of the handful of democratic candidates up for the party nomination next year, Graff said Dean is "the only one that has a buzz, the only one that has momentum." That aside, in the question and answer session that followed his talk, Graff said that President Bush's advisors like Karl Rove will have a field day should Dean get the nomination over the possibilities of using Dean's support for civil unions against him in the national spotlight.