Susan Bartlett For Governor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 7/13/10

Contact Susan Bartlett: susan@bartlettforgovernor.com

John Bauer 802-279-7222 john.bauer@bartlettforgovernor.com

Later this week all candidates for the Democratic Party's candidates for Governor will file their financial reports. Since there are no truly reliable polls for the Primary Election and no votes have been counted, political pundits will undoubtedly attempt to correlate dollars raised and spent by the five candidates as a measure of future success in the August Primary election. By that measure the politics as usual, conventional "wisdom" will be that my candidacy is in last place, a prohibitive underdog. There have been many Vermont elections in which the highest spender hasn't been successful, I've won some of those elections and plan to do it again in August.

When I announced, I anticipated that I would raise less money than the other candidates in the primary. I knew that I would be at a disadvantage because I have never run a state-wide race and don't have the fundraising lists the other candidates have developed. From the beginning I have planned to run a low-budget campaign and made a conscious decision to spend my time meeting and talking with voters. If money alone determined the outcome of an election, Jack McMullin would have beaten Fred Tuttle. In fact I have won several elections in which I was out spent.

While I may be an underdog, winners aren't decided by conventional wisdom, as the 2004 Red Sox proved to the Yankees! I am not running for Governor as a "politics as usual" candidate. I am running, and will continue to run, as the most qualified candidate to address Vermont's serious budgetary problems in the years ahead. I can to this in a fiscally disciplined, sustained economic development-friendly, Howard Dean-like manner with a measure of old fashioned common sense and Vermont values.

While the Primary is the short-term focus, what my party needs most of all is to nominate a candidate who can actually win the General Election. While conventional wisdom may say I'm an underdog in the Primary, I am the candidate best able to defeat Brian Dubie in November. I have a long record of moderating the Democratic Party's position on key issues related to budgetary and business issues. Vermonters have shown for many years that they do not care so much about the party of the governor, as they care for the politics of the Governor. Vermonters want a Governor who is tough on budget issues and who can say "no," but shares their values. I've been doing that for years as chair of senate appropriations.

Based on the strong support I've gotten all over Vermont from regular Vermonters for my straight talking, pragmatic, fiscally moderate message, I'm convinced that politics as usual and political spin will be defeated in the August Primary and that I will be my party's nominee for Governor. I look forward to talking to voters over the next 5 weeks of the Primary campaign and in the General Election.

Let's work together to bring new leadership to the governor's office, to build a better future based on Vermont's values and traditions.

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Thank you for your support! Please contact me to visit your area to explore the challenges and successes in your part of Vermont, or just to talk.

Sincerely,

Susan Bartlett