BRATTLEBORO — Just weeks ago Obama swept Vermont and the nation to became president-elect. That was the big story. Meanwhile, the Vermont press chose to largely ignore an interesting and unusual aspect of this year's gubernatorial contest - the fact that an independent candidate, Anthony Pollina, nudged past a high-profile Democratic to place second behind front-runner Republican Jim Douglas.
As such races go, this outcome is remarkable. Consider:
1) An independent candidate running against candidates from the two major parties.
2) Pollina was outspent by Symington and the Democratic Party 2 to 1 (4 to 1 by the Douglas campaign).
3) Obama's fine-tuned organization, massive fundraising, and long coattails should have provided a major advantage to Democrat Symington, but apparently they did not.
4) Symington ran for Governor from her platform as speaker of the house, a springboard that should have helped her significantly. Moreover, Pollina was disparaged by the press and others as having little valid experience.
5) Attempts were made by both prominent Republicans and Democrats to derail Pollina's candidacy: negative comments by Douglas and his campaign manager about Pollina's idea for a Vermont credit card and his involvement with the Vermont Milk Co., and attacks on his fundraising led by Secretary of State Deb Markowitz and Attorney General Bill Sorrell that proved baseless.
6) And finally, much of Vermont's mainstream press ignored, disparaged, and marginalized Pollina from the beginning of his campaign to the very end. However, when the votes were counted on Nov. 4, Pollina received over 18,000 more votes than when he last ran for statewide office in 2002.
Why did Symington do so poorly, despite all her advantages? Why did Pollina do as well as he did, despite all the obstacles before him?
The Vermont Democratic and Republican Parties will no doubt ponder these questions. It is unfortunate that the press didn't take a more evenhanded, unbiased approach to the race for governor, and in the end didn't even provide a comprehensive report on the outcome.
I wonder what the public memory and lessons of this election will be two years from now when the contest begins anew.