8/11/2019 Fragments of a Campaign Diary | Chittenden Magazine | Dec. 1972

1/4

I

ran

for

the

Hackett around

Union. I

got

candidate

for

did

This

article

is not

a

talk

hre about

the

of

taxalion, or

in the state, or

ot the unrepresentative nature of

legislature,

or

the

housing

uisis

in

or the

grossly inequitable

of incore in America

and

or the schools whch

uush

the

of our

children

-

or

about

the dozen

issues we

rased during

the campaign.

do I

talk

here

about Lberty Unionond

hopes and ideasfor itsfuture. llhat Iam

here

simply

recording

some events

the

campaign,

and my thoughts about

with

the hope

that

they

mght

be

of

o

Vermonters who

follow

the

scene.

I

should

mention

that

running

for

of

Vermont was one of the most

interesting

and

informative

of my

lfe.

So

much

happened,

I learned

so

much

about

so many things,

a

hundred

pages

would barely

dojustice

the

experience.

lYhatfollows,

therere, is

avery

partiol

andfragmentedreport

on

campaign.

-

Drove

with

Martha

(Martha

Abbott,

Union

Chairperson) up to Orleans

a

debate

with

Salmon before the

low

association

up there. Hackett

decided

not

to

show

up.

Not

his

I

guess.

It

was

a

beautiful

I

hadn't

been

off the interstate in

the

for

a

long

while. When we

got

to

church

a

young

lawyer-politician,

golng

about

instinctively

were

nodding and

there

as

I

talked

about

taxes,

and

the

phone

company.

I

even

mentioned that horrible

word

socialism

-

nd nobody

in

the

audience

fainted. After

the meeting was over people came

up

to

me

and

told me how

the

phone

company was

screwing

them,

and

this

and

that.

One

beautiful,

toothless

old

man

told

me

about

the socialist

meetings

they held

in Newport

during

the depression.

Newport:

Salmon

did

well and

got

a

good

response

-

but

I

got

a

better

response.

The

real

differences between

us, and

the

difference

between

what being

liberal and radical is

about, became clearer

and

clearer

as the

question

and answer

period

went

on. Of

all the

groups

that

a

candidate

talks

before,

I

prefer

most to speak

to low income

people.

They

know''a

lot

more than most

people

because

their

lives

are constantly

on

the line

and

they

can't

escape behind

$10,000

a

year

incomes

-

as

can

the

good

liberals.

-

Spoke to the

students

of St. Anthony's

High

School

in Bennington

-

and

did

terribly.

It

was

probably

the

worst speech

I

gave

during the whole campa.

I

drove

for

3

hours

to

get

there

-

(leaving

Burlington

at

5 a.m.).

I

got

to

Bennington in time

but

got

lost

getting

to

the

high school.

When Ifinally

got

there

300

kids

were waiting. I

threw

down

my

coat,

and

began talking. Spoke

right off

the

top

of

my

head,

didn't

put

two

coherent sentences together,

and

made

very

little

allowance for the fact

that I was

speaking

before

17

year

olds. The

talkjust

never

came off.

The response I

got

wasn't

bad,

(the

Bennington Banner

called

it

lukewarm ),

but

it

wasn't

good.

The

Banner

reporter

who covered

it

told

me

that Salmon

had

gotten

an enthusiastic

response

before

the

same audience.

I

consider talking

to

young

people

extremely

important

-

and

it

bothered

me

very

much

that

I was unable

to

convey

my

feelings

to

them.

-

Spoke

before the Vermont Labor

Council

at

their

convention

on

Marble

Island. Everyone

knew

that they

were

going

to

endorse

Salmon

but

I

very much wanted

to

go

anyway.

I

really wanted to

talk

to

the

workers.

It

was

a rainy

day,

and

when

Martha

and

I

got

there

we

nrere

greeted

at

the

door by

two slightly tipsy delegates.

It

looked

like

the booze was really flowing.

One

of

the

delegates

asked

me,

in

a

friendly

way:

Where

is

your

beard?

I

thought

you

had

a beard.

I've

never

had

a beard

in

my

life

but

I

guess

that

radicals

are supposed

to.

I

said

hello to Bill Meyer

who

had

finished

speaking a

little

while

before. The lights

were

on

and the

t,v.

cameras were turning when I

gave

my

talk.

(Talking

before

t.v.

cameras

is

always

eerie because

you

know

that

they're

not

going

to

use

your

whole

talk on

the

tube.

So

you

think,

as

you're

talking,

-are

hey

going

to cut

this

part,

or that

part,

or

what?)

I

spoke

about the corporations that

own the country,

about

the regressive nature

of

our

tax system and the things

that

I

usually talked

about.

(And

it

turned

outthat

WCAX

played

back

on

the

news

the

part

about marijuana

and

abortion). I doubtthat

I

got

two votes

from the

audience

-

but they

listened.

When I started talking

everybody

there seemed to be mumbling

or

falling

asleep

-

but they stayed

awake and

attentive

for

the talk.

Afterwards,

a

few

of

the

younger

delegates came up

to

us

and

inquired

about

Liberty

Union and shook

the

not

f\

in

the recent

Salmon

the

percent

vering

a

flowing introduction

om who

gave

one

of

his

better talks

campaign.

As

usual,

I

started

my

talk

knowing what

I

was

going

to

say.

I

well, though, and

it

was

an old

things

which

for

us with

3Vz

article. I

do

or

the corporate

dental care

Peler

CHITTENDEN

37

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