Thanks to everyone who commented this year. There were so many new media outlets going on — nationally and locally — that it was overwhelming. I found myself participating, or at least keeping an eye on, at least 5 different live chats, plus breaking election news, channel 17, and a few live-blogs. There’s no shortage of venues to be heard in!

You can see all of the video shot for this year’s Exit Voices project at CCTV’s blip.tv page. There are some real gems in there, so enjoy. Maybe you’ll see yourself!

Vermont | No Comments »

“Vermonter” Neil Jensen has been blogging about Barack Obama longer than anyone else I know. This election has been a long haul for many of us, but Neil has really been at it for a long time, and while it’s still not quite over, he has finally managed to at least fill in the little oval next to his candidate’s name. Congratulations, Neil.

Obama, VT bloggers, Vermont, presidential race | 1 Comment »

Click here to see all of the people twittering in reference to Vermont elections. If you use Twitter yourself, tag your tweets #vtelxn.

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If you’re a Twitter user, make sure you include the #vtelxn tag to your election-related tweets to be included in the live election feed!

Vermont | No Comments »

JD labeled this video “part 1…”

…and this one “part 3.” Not sure where part 2 has gotten off to…

Democratic National Convention, VT bloggers, Vermont, presidential race, video | No Comments »

Democratic National Convention, Obama, VT bloggers, Vermont, activism, presidential race, video | No Comments »

So it turns out that JD Ryan, our Exit Voices correspondent on the scene in Denver for the DNC, is posting all of the really good stuff on his own blog, Five Before Chaos (even though we gave him the camera!).  Here are the videos he’s posted over there so far.  Nice work, JD!  Keep ‘em coming!

Democratic National Convention, Obama, Vermont, presidential race, video | 2 Comments »

Here is JD, as captured by the lens of Philip Baruth, last night in Denver [note the tiny Flip video camera in his hands].

Philip writes:

But even J.D. Ryan, noted skeptic and embedded blogger, grudged a half-smile. And for J.D. Ryan, that’s equivalent to an entire Broadway musical. An entire Broadway musical made up entirely of ABBA tunes.

I spied Philip myself very briefly in a crowd shot on MSNBC last night during Michelle Obama’s speech. He appeared to be with fellow Vermonters Madeleine Kunin and Patrick Leahy, but the shot was only on for a 1/2 second, so I can’t be sure it was actually Pat and not some other distinguished-looking bald man in the VT section.

Here are some unedited clips as filed by JD on his first evening at the convention.  His email was apologetic that he didn’t upload more, but he was going on 36 hours without sleep!  Get some sleep, man!

That last one was an interview with Allison from first-draft.com. I just wanted to get that link in here — we bloggers have to stick together!

Democratic National Convention, VT bloggers, Vermont, Vermont Media, presidential race, video | 2 Comments »

The Democratic National Convention is being held this week in Denver and a strong contingent of Vermonters are in attendance, many of who will be blogging and videoblogging their way through the event.

Exit Voices even has a correspondent on-site!  J.D. Ryan, a Vermont political blogger for Green Mountain Daily and his own Five Before Chaos blog is in Denver this week carrying around a little video camera that we provided for him.  He’ll be posting snippets of his adventures on a (hopefully) daily basis this week, so stay tuned!

J.D. is hartdly the only Vermont blogger to keep your eyes on though.  Fellow GMD blogger John Odum has his own camera and will be video blogging at the behest of zannel.com — his first post is up already, so go check it out!  Vermont Daily Briefing’s Philip Baruth is gracing the Burlington Free Press’ website with his own special convention blog, The Deal in Denver.

Christian Avard is in Denver doing some writing for The Huffington Post, and Kevin Kelly will be blogging about his Denver exploits at Seven Days’ staff blog, Blurt.

There’s more too!  Check out this GMD post for a rundown, and keep a browser tab open to Exit Voices for J.D.’s exclusive coverage.  (Did I just write “exclusive coverage?” That’s so cool!)

Of course, The convention is mostly a planned affair and few surprises are expected, but it will be interesting to follow the perspectives of all of these Vermonters who are so deeply committed to politics.

Democratic National Convention, Obama, VT bloggers, Vermont, Vermont Media, presidential race, video | 1 Comment »

It’s late August.  The nominees have been selected in what has been the longest presidential campaign in American history.  The national party conventions are upon us, and here in Vermont, the three-way gubernatorial race is on.

Exit Voices is coming back online, gearing up for November 4th.  Between now and then we’ll be posting about national and Vermont politics as seen through the lens of the Vermont political blogosphere.

There’s lots to talk about Vermont-blogging-wise.  John Odum and JD Ryan will be travelling to Denver next week as official Vermont bloggers, hanging out with the Vermont delegation on the convention floor of  the Democratic National Convention.  Vermont Daily Briefing blogger, Philip Baruth, will be there too as a delegate for Obama.  And Steve “The Carpetbagger Report” Benen  is leaving his 4 1/2 year-old blog on Friday to write full-time for Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog. Congratulations, Steve.

Stay tuned and say hello in the comments!

November, VT bloggers, Vermont, housekeeping, presidential race | 1 Comment »

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the TMD action around the Vermont blogosphere…

• Vermont View is doing a great job, featuring several posts today about political hapenings around the state, including piece on the Brattleboro indictment vote, electioneering Montpelier style, and the apparent Obama blowout here in Vermont.
• Broadsides features an essay about how the power of Town Meetings in Vermont has been curtailed over the years yielding a process that has few teeth when it comes to statewide politics.
• Green Mountain Daily is featuring some thoughtful thoughs and speculations about today’s results.
• iBrattleboro’s got Brattleboro Town Meeting pictures!
• Front Porch Forum may be the busiest online forum in the state when it comes to Vermonters discussing issues and candidates with each other. According to FPF founder and moderator Michael Wood Lewis, 150 different people have posted messages to the forum recently about the Moran Plant question in Burlington alone! Too bad those posts aren’t permalinked anywhere. That would be a valuable resource and a fascinating archive of this election cycle.
• Walter Jeffries has a post at Sugar Mountain Farm about the absurdity of voter ID systems in West Topsham, Vermont.

Most of the links under the Vermont Politics list in the right side bar have current posts about this Town Meeting Day and/or Vermont presidential primary. Take a tour through these blogs and let them know you stopped by!

Town Meetings, Vermont, presidential race, southern Vermont | 2 Comments »

Here are some more voices of Vermont voters exiting their polling places…

Vermont, video | No Comments »

There have been a few references in the blogs today about this WCAX poll, which shows that an overwhelming majority of those polled would vote to re-elect Governor Jim Douglas over possible Democratic challenger Peter Galbraith and Progressive Anthony Pollina. According to WCAX…

53 percent say they support Douglas– 22 percent would vote for Democrat Peter Galbraith– and 15 percent for Progressive Anthony Pollina. 10 percent are still unsure.

“This is a strong position for an incumbent Governor to be in,” says Middlebury College Political Scientist Eric Davis.

Davis says part of Douglas’ success is that some Democrats vote for him.

“Governor Douglas is the beneficiary of a good deal of ticket splitting– voters who are voting for Democratic candidates for other offices are voting for Douglas for Governor,” explains Davis.

What’s interesting Davis says, is that Democrat Peter Galbraith leads Progressive Anthony Pollina by 7 percentage points– even though Galbraith is not officially in the race yet.

The gubernatorial election isn’t until November, but let’s conduct a non-scientific Exit Voices poll. Who would win your vote for Governor if the election were held today?

November, Vermont | 2 Comments »

In order to Vote in Tuesday’s Vermont Presidential primary, you must register with your local town clerk by 5:00 pm today!

And remember, there will be a live web chat with representatives from all of the major presidential candidates tonight starting at 7:30 pm at Vermont Public Television’s website.  All are free to participate.

Vermont, presidential race | No Comments »

Dan Barlow has a piece in today’s Rutland Herald about State Senator Bill Doyle’s annual Town Meeting poll, which he’s conducted every year since 1969…

Each year’s questions seem to reflect the top issues of the time — although there are questions that pop up year after year — a question on increasing the gas tax to fund roads and bridges pops up both in 1990 and on this year’s list.

Questions during the 1970s often focused on the environment — including a 1974 question on rationing gas coupons and a 1976 question asking if smoking should be prohibited in parts of public buildings. War was on the mind of Vermonters during the early years of the ’70s, as shown in a question from the poll’s second year that asked if veterans should be given an additional $120 for their service in the “Vietnam crisis.”

Many of the questions from the 1980s focused on economics, education and infrastructure, including a 1987 question on raising the interstate speed limit to 65 and a 1981 question on casino gambling in the state.

Questions during the 1990s often centered on recycling, mandatory seat-belt laws and some “hot button” issues, including questions in 1992 on welfare and abortions and a 1999 question that asked if minors who make bomb threats should be charged as adults.

Read the whole article.  Here are this year’s poll questions:

1. Should drivers be prohibited from using cell phones while driving?
2. Do you support same-sex marriage?
3. Should Vermont take the lead in addressing climate change?
4. Should Vermont lease its lottery?
5. Are you optimistic about Vermont’s economy?
6. Do you support the legalization of hemp?
7. Should jail time be removed for the possession of one ounce of marijuana?
8. Do you support a four-year term for governor?
9. Do you support a four-year term for legislators?
10. Should Vermont Yankee’s license be renewed in 2012?
11. Should the gas tax be increased to improve our roads and bridges?
12. Do you believe the Vermont Legislature is doing a good job?
13. Do you believe Gov. Douglas is doing a good job?
14. Consider expressing your preference for the 2008 presidential election: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, John McCain.

Exit Voices readers are encouraged to answer these questions in the comments.

Via PolitickerVT

Town Meetings, Vermont | 3 Comments »

Crossposted at Candleblog…

It’s spelled V-e-r-m-o-n-t.  It’s the 14th state — the first one after the original 13 colonies.  It’s right next to New Hampshire and it’s similarly shaped.  But people don’t seem to know we exist.  The other night as Emily and I were watching some election-related news coverage, we heard a pundit refer to the March 4th primaries in “Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and the other states.”

In tonight’s Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton said, “I want to help the people of this country get the chances they deserve to have. And I will do whatever I can here in Ohio, in Texas, Rhode Island, in the states to come making that case.”

What are we, chopped liver?  We have 15 delegates!  There are only four contests for the Democrats on March 4th.  Nobody seems to have any trouble remembering the other three.

It reminds me of the theme from Gilligan’s Island.  At the end of the opening credits as the lyrics listed the characters on the island, the song we all remember would go, “With Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann….”  But remember when the show was still black and white?  It had a slightly different version of the song.  Originally, the song was sung, “…the movie star, and the rest!”  The rest?  The professor and Mary Ann were “the rest?”

That’s us up here in Vermont.  Texas and Ohio are the Skipper and Gilligan.  Vermont is the state that’s not worth taking up theme song time with.  But remember, Vermont is also the state that can charge radio batteries using coconut shells and sea water AND is the state most people want to marry.  So there.

Vermont, presidential race | No Comments »

Reading Vermont View, I see that The Huffington Post has generated a nifty little GoogleMaps hack called FundRace that shows you exactly who in your neck of the woods donated money to a presidential campaign.  Looking at Burlington, I can see that Seventh Generation CEO Jeffery Hollender gave $2,300 to Chris Dodd’s campaign, for example.  I also see that Madeline Kunin gave $400 to the Clinton campaign (not too surprising considering Kunin is co-chair of Clinton’s Vermont campaign).  Pepsi mogul Skip Farrell gave $250 to Rudy Guiliani.  The list goes on.  Just click a red or blue dot on the map to see who’s giving campaign contributions to who.

Vermont, presidential race | No Comments »

Vermont Public Television will host a live web chat with representatives from all three major presidential candidates this coming Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm. The one-hour chat is free and anyone is welcome to participate. According to VPT, blogger Neil Jensen of Vermonters for Obama; former governor Madeleine Kunin, co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s Vermont Campaign; and Robert Chernin, a McCain supporter, have agreed to participate.

The web chat is part of VPT’s Vermont Primary Tracker, which the public television channel describes as “a website for keeping up to date with the state’s presidential primary.” According to VPT…

Vermont Primary Tracker offers a variety of content, including candidate information and position papers. Discussion areas include issues of special concern to Vermont voters, such as retirement security and health
care, as well as broader topics like the Iraq war, global warming and education.

Go to VPT’s website to login to the web chat.

Clinton, McCain, Obama, Vermont, presidential race | No Comments »

Exit Voices is a Vermont blogging experiment.  In November of 2006, Vermont Community Access Media and the CCTV Center for Media and Democracy joined forces to create an online public forum where Vermonters could discuss the issues and candidates on the ballot in that election cycle.  The result was Exit Voices, a moderated community blog specifically designed to be a sounding board for voters who had more to say than just speaking with their votes.  The blog featured posts by prominent Vermont bloggers, video interviews with voters exiting their polling places and comments by anyone who cared to participate.

For Town Meeting Day 2007, Exit Voices expanded its geographic scope and featured guest posts from bloggers in the Northeast Kingdom, southern Vermont and central Vermont as well.  Despite being a relatively quiet election (no major statewide or national candidates running), the Exit Voices blog was quite active, with dozens of commenters participating in the discussions from all over Vermont.

March 4, 2008 is likely to be a big day in Vermont.  Along with the usual excitement of Town Meeting Day, it’s the Vermont presidential primary as well.  With the looming possibility of a brokered Democratic convention, Vermont’s 15 delegates could actually make a difference in helping to pick the Democratic nominee.  Voter turnout is likely to be higher than average and hopefully that excitement will spill over to the Exit Voices blog.

On the evening of the 4th, CCTV (Comcast and Burlington Telecom channel 17 in the greater Burlington area) will include comments and video posts from the blog in its live election night coverage.  CCTV’s coverage will also be streamed live online at cctv.org.

Town Meetings, Vermont, housekeeping | 2 Comments »