More on Those Addison County 2012 Senate Results

Nationally recognized expert on Vermont and national politics, Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College weighed in on the 2012 Addison County state senate race between incumbent Sen. Claire (D), Democratic former Vermont House member (as well as having served in a number of other community service posts) Chris Bray and never-ever likely to be  Senator Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner, a recurring Vermont secession movement candidate who, from  what I can find, has never won any office here or in Brooklyn, NY where he hails from.

This from today's Addison Independent on the race:

"While the 5,073 tallies registered by Wagner were considerably more than the 1,127 he garnered in 2010, political observers did not attribute that to Wagner gaining more traction with his campaign in which he championed, among other things, eliminating the personal income tax and instead taxing natural resource extraction as well as unearned income from land speculation. Eric L. Davis, a political analyst and professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College, said Wagner’s beefed-up numbers likely came from tallies tossed to him by Republican voters who did not have a GOP candidate to vote on in this year’s race for state senate. For the first time in decades, Republicans did not field a single candidate for Addison County’s two state Senate seats. GOP officials have cited as reasons the rigors of campaigning and the senatorial district losing Brandon (a Republican stronghold) and gaining Huntington (which leans Democratic) through reapportionment. 

Davis noted the election returns show that roughly 17,500 Addison County residents voted for president on Tuesday. Those same people had two votes to cast in the state Senate race, which could have produced a total of around 35,000 votes. But only around 28,000 votes were cast in the state Senate race, meaning that approximately 7,000 voters did not make two selections in that contest. 

“The Wagner vote represents Republicans who wanted another name on the ballot and there were no Republicans to vote on, so they voted for Wagner,” Davis said.But Wagner, reached on Wednesday, discounted Davis’s analysis. 

“We don’t know until we ask people why” they voted the way they did, he said.Wagner said he believes most Vermonters classify themselves as independent, and he perceived his vote total as evidence of growing support. And he believes any votes tossed his way on Tuesday were a statement against majority party rule in general, rather than just a jab at Democrats. He said he is likely to run for state Senate again in the future."

Davis' analysis jibes with what I first posted about months ago and mentioned again two nights ago as the election came to a close: Wagner would pick up votes from some Republicans who had nowhere else to go.  At his website Wagner continues to inflate the importance of his showing but it's all starting to sound too contorted - sad, really.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to Wagner's conflicting positions, there's been no word yet about whether Wagner will be
returning the $288.30 Federal subsidy he received while flying out of the airport in Rutland, VT, which is exactly the kind of Federal subsidy that he "is strongly opposed to" and has argued harms Vermonters that I revealed he'd hypocritically availed himself of (as in sticking his snout in the federal money trough) here. Wagner must publicly give back that subsidy money or he'll be exposed for the hypocritical fraud that many of us Vermonters now know him to be. baas the Dixie singin' Magnolia Vermonter Second Vermont Republic "Vermont Commons" Rob Williams "target="_blank * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.