Douglas to meet with Obama next week

Gov. James Douglas will meet with president-elect Barack Obama in Philadelphia next week.

The meeting will be hosted by the National Governor's Association, a bi-partisan group that Douglas, a Republican, is the vice-chairman of. Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania is the chairman.

According to the Associated Press story, the actual meeting will be behind closed doors. But Rendell and Douglas are expected to speak to the press shortly after.

(The AP news break caused quite a stir in the newsroom today by creating the impression that the meeting was happening today - the story continually states that the meeting is Tuesday, but doesn't make it clear that it is Tuesday next week. We, of course, quickly realized that Douglas was not in Philadelphia today because he was in Vermont cutting his new Christmas tree).

-Dan Barlow 

Jim Douglas: The Future of the GOP

That's according to Republican North Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

Sanford was on FOX News Monday night talking about rebuilding the national Republican Party following the disasterous deafeats this year and in 2006.

And he name-dropped our Republican governor - who easily won reelection to a fourth term this year - as an example of the future GOP brand.

Here's the glowing quote.

"You know, I think it's a broad swath. It literally goes from Jim Douglas, who won in the most blue of blue states there in Vermont come Tuesday, a couple Tuesdays ago or, indeed, somebody who's like a young rising star like Bobby Jindal.

It is somebody like Sonny Purdue there in Georgia, who's been working on a lot of neat reforms. It's a broad swath of different folks."

So, what do you think, folks? Is Gov. Douglas the type of Republican that party should encourage? Or are there specific voting trends in Vermont that make him succesful here?

-Dan Barlow