Posted: 05/03/06

Sanders sounds off
Democratic senatorial hopeful speaks out

Mike Morris | contributing writer
mmorris2@smcvt.edu

“Since [Rich] Tarrant’s site was launched, and his blog began, he has not mentioned Sanders name once,” the author of the supposedly neutral Vermont Senate Race Web log writes. “[Bernie] Sanders has had several posts that were specifically targeting Tarrant. The agreement, (in our opinion) has been broken and Sanders is the first to go negative. Is that a surprise? Not really.”

What’s more surprising than the author’s position in the above paragraph, taken from an entry dated Feb. 14, is the author’s identity. The author is not the retiree he claimed to be in a Jan. 14 post, but rather Jeff Bartley, 20, a paid member of Rich Tarrant’s Senate campaign staff. Paul Hortenstine, the Sanders campaign’s communications director, considers the blog itself an example of the Tarrant campaign “going negative” against Sanders, something Tarrant had pledged to avoid.

Sanders’ issues for students

Sanders has been trying to run an issue-oriented campaign, Hortenstine says, and Tarrant’s large media buys have raised both the price and difficulty of doing so.

Sanders regularly holds town meetings around the state. “I have held hundreds [...] over the past 15 years,” Sanders says. The meetings are on a variety of topics, ranging from health care to the war in Iraq.

Sanders also uses his “franking privilege,” the ability of a Congressman to send free mailings to constituents, unusually; whereas most politicians send out campaign information and donation requests, Sanders informs Vermonters of the goings-on of Washington.

Sanders major issues of personal interest grant him outsider status in the House. He is a longtime supporter of universal healthcare, environmental protections, senior citizens and students.

“In my view, this country is moving in very much the wrong direction and we need people in the Senate who are prepared to stand up to the disastrous Bush-Cheney agenda,” Sanders says.

“I strongly disagree with Bush about giving huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America while making it harder for middle income families to send their children to college,” says Sanders.

“Bernie has been a leader in opposing cuts to education loans and fighting for college students,” Hortenstine says.

Sanders has also been an ardent supporter of the environment, an issue finding a home on many college campuses.

“Bush’s record on the environment is a disaster. The Bush administration has probably the worst environmental record of any presidency,” he says.

Sanders has personally been focused on making the United States less dependent on Middle Eastern oil by pushing sustainability, though wind, solar, hydrogen and geothermal sources of energy. Sanders says it is “incomprehensible” and “totally stupid” that modern cars are less fuel-efficient than they were 20 years ago.

“To have someone like that elected to the Senate would be a huge step forward for progressives and those on the left,” Hortenstine says.

Style of the campaign

Hortenstine offered multiple examples of what he considered negative campaigning by officials for Tarrant’s campaign. Other than the fake blog, Hortenstine cited Tim Lennon, Tarrant’s campaign manager questioning of a phone call Sanders’ wife made for his campaign while she may have been working, a claim that Hortenstine called “unfounded.”

“He’s taking a page from the Karl Rove playbook,” Hortenstine says. “He has brought a new style of campaigning to Vermont.”

“I’ve never seen someone make a significant ad buy,” he says, of Tarrant’s early purchase of television time. “It’s an unfortunate development in the American political process.”

Tarrant, Hortenstine says, is running a “consultant-based, television-based,” whereas the Sanders campaign has been “listening to the people of Vermont.”

“It’s tough to keep pace [with Tarrant’s media buys]," he says, when asked about the Sanders campaign spending. As of April 30, the Sanders campaign has spent $1.4 million, compared to Tarrant’s $1.8 million.

“The people of Vermont will not allow [Tarrant] to buy this election,” Sanders says.

The campaign on a national level

“There are ramifications [on a national level] because the Senate is in play,” Jon Margolis, former Chicago Tribune White House correspondent and current freelance journalist, says of the Vermont race. A few months ago, when other Senate elections were less certain, this would not have been true.

If Tarrant were to win the seat, “it would certainly be a Republican take-away,” he says, noting the importance of Sanders to the Democrats.

“A lot of other ultra-rich guys would say ‘maybe I can do that too,’” he continues, with a laugh. A glimpse at the personal wealth of current senators shows that this may be less of a joke than Margolis intended.

As for the claims that Tarrant is changing politics in Vermont with his media-heavy campaign, Margolis says he is skeptical.

“It was going to happen anyway,” he says. “No state can stay immune to it forever.”

Margolis traces the roots of this new campaigning to Jim Douglas’ first first race for governor, in which the fact that Douglas outspent opponent Doug Racine played a role in the Douglas victory, though he “can’t simply say that money did it.”

“If Tarrant should win, it would lend credence to the ‘bought the election’ idea, but there would be other reasons,” most likely a large mistake by Sanders," Margolis says.

The important difference between the Tarrant and Douglas campaigns that would validate criticisms of Tarrant’s money winning the election is political experience--Jim Douglas has served in political office since he graduated from college, while Tarrant has never held an elected position.

The recent influx of political professionals has changed politics, Margolis says, but this has been ongoing.

“Money and the influence of professionals [have made Vermont] less ‘more grassroots’ than the rest of the country,” he says. “I don’t think we're that grassroots at that [Senatorial] level.”

Hortenstine also says he doubts that the Tarrant campaign will spell the end of person-to-person politics in Vermont.

“The way that we can stop him from changing politics in Vermont is by winning,” he says.

Matt Ryan contributed reporting to this article.

Click here to an article about Rich Tarrant published in the Echo April 26.