Pollina, in So. Royalton, Says He'll Run for Gov.

Anthony Pollina, the best-known Progressive politician on the statewide circuit over the last 10 years, apparently told a South Royalton audience last week that he is planning to run for governor next year.

That's according to an Associated Press report quoting Chris Pearson, a Progressive legislator from South Burlington. Pearson attended the Saturday state convention of the Progressive party at which Pollina reportedly disclosed his plans.

There has been no official announcement from the Pollina camp, however.

Pollina is a longtime leader of the Progressive party in Vermont and also for several years headed up Rural Vermont, which specialized in farm politics. He also hosts a daily radio show on the stations of Radio Vermont.

Pollina- and some but not all Progressives- hope that he can get Democrat support in a run against Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, who has proven hard to beat at the polls. If the Democrats throw their weight behind Pollina, instead of nominating their own candidate, his chances of victory would be far greater.

However, Democratic Party leaders last week told the AP that they intend to run their own candidate.

Two Windsor County men are seen as the most likely Democratic nominees- Sen. John Campbell of Woodstock, who is now majority leader, and former Windsor Co. Sen. Matt Dunne of Hartland, who made a spirited run for lieutenant governor in 2006.

The last time Pollina ran for statewide office was for lieutenant governor in 2002, and his entry into that race is generally credited with throwing the job to Republican Brian Dubie, who was then relatively unknown. Pollina and Democrat Peter Shumlin split the liberal vote nearly in half, making Dubie a shoo-in, though he received fewer than 50% of the votes.

In 2000 Pollina ran for governor. He received only 9.5% of the votes, but that was nearly enough to deprive Howard Dean of a 50% majority over Pollina and conservative Republican Ruth Dwyer. Getting less than 50% would have sent the election to the legislature in the year of the "Take Back Vermont" backlash.

It's hard to see how Pollina's presence in statewide races so far has done anything positive for liberal politics in Vermont, and it's hard to see how his candidacy in 2008 will help anybody but Jim Douglas.