Reply #3: Oh, We'll Be Happy to Talk About Dean's Record [View All]

[tsipple]

For example, under Dean's leadership Vermont ranks #1 in providing childhood health insurance coverage, according to the U.S. Census.

I'm busy working on a piece on his excellent environmental record, actually. EPA rankings put Vermont as #52 in pollution emissions (including DC and PR). Or, to put it succinctly, it's the cleanest state in the country. Dean helped lock up almost 8% of Vermont's lands to save them from development during his tenure, by the way. (That's right. The State bought over 470,000 acres. That's excluding an additional 100,000 acres of preserved farmland.) Vermont is also one of only a few states (California/Northeast) with automobile emissions standards that exceed federal EPA rules.

Civil rights? Civil unions ushered in unprecedented rights for GBLT couples in Vermont. Only California now has comparable rights, and only partially.

Education? Among the very best according to rankings, and the state has aggressive cost-sharing between wealthy and poor cities and towns, so that it doesn't matter where you live within the state as much as it does in other states. Vermont also has aggressive early childhood intervention programs which are lauded.

Crime? Among the very safest, and Dean brought Vermont inmates back to Vermont, to be closer to their families and consequently better able to return to society without repeat offense.

Farming? There are 120 more organic farms in Vermont -- which are mostly small scale family farms. There are more than double the number of farmer's markets, for family farms to sell directly to consumers and earn more money. The Dept. of Agriculture now can regulate large farms -- it couldn't before 1996.

Due process? Vermont allows jury trials for traffic tickets! The GBLT community also was able to win a landmark case in the Vermont Supreme Court for civil unions, and educational advocates won unprecedented (and controversial) equal funding rules from the same court.

Campaign finance? Dean is raising more money from more small donors than any Democrat, by far, and is not dependent on large donor money. He's succeeding within the new McCain-Feingold rules through game-changing strategy. He's also reducing the importance of money by establishing new lines of communication (Internet, Meetups, etc.) which will be studied by political experts for years. His campaign has more grassroots, non-Washington, non-big donor aid than any campaign. (Contrast with John Edwards or Joe Lieberman, to pick a couple examples.)