Leahy running for reelection in 2010

Patrick Leahy will run for re-election in 2010, the U.S. Sen. announced in a video to supporters Wednesday.
In the e-mail and video message Leahy said he will run to continue his work in the Senate - and asks for financial help.

"The last U.S. Senate race in Vermont cost more than $12 million dollars," according to the message. That was the contest between Vermont's other current U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, and Richard Tarrant.

"June 30th is the first major fundraising deadline of the 2010 campaign. I need your help to post strong results and show our right-wing opponents that we're getting ready for anything they throw our way," Leahy told his supporters.

- Louis Porter

Gov. Douglas on Gov. Sanford

Gov. James Douglas weighed in today on the odd vacation taken by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. As you probably know, Sanford left his office last week and went off ... somewhere? His press office now says he's hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Douglas - who knows Sanford via the National Governor's Association - said the trip is "curious, to say the lest." But he said he gives the governor the "benefit of the doubt."

He then reminded the press corps. of the time that Howard Dean, while governor, got lost on the Long Trail.

-Dan Barlow

Second Vermont Republic on Glenn Beck

FOX News' Glenn Beck makes the shaky transition this week from the Iranian elections to ... Vermont's secession movement?

The transcript of his interview with Thomas Naylor can be read here.

Here's what Naylor had to say about the movement under an Obama administration:

Well, I think that, essentially, the system is coming unglued at the seams. What I suggested that — I mean, basically secession is an act of our rebellion driven by anger and fear. People were more angry at George W. Bush, but now, under Obama with the economic meltdown, there's genuine fear.

And so, I think the moment — secession has been getting more attention in the last few weeks at any time since 1865.

- Dan Barlow

Iranian revolution

There's a revolution going on in Iran, aside from the protests. I spent much of the early morning watching the news via Twitter - which is incomplete and sometimes frustratingly vague, but nonetheless exciting. The Twitterers are sidestepping the usual power structures and centralized control of information. Watching the tag : #iranelection brings 200-400 updates a minute, too much to process, and many of them are duplicates. Many of them refer to the BBC web site, Al Jazeera, Reuters, people still depend on trusted news sources. They also need, to some degree, a filter.
At the same time, the people in Iran - despite their reports that the government is shutting down telecommunications - are doing work that is impossible or very difficult for a journalist to do: Western journalists are in lockdown.
How does this relate to Vermont? In our industry, the landscape is changing so fast it's difficult to keep up, and predictions on the future of newspapers/news are hard to trust. We're seeing a revolution in the way information is communicated - from the hourglass shape of the traditional newspaper to the full on multi-connective social networking model. Few people predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall - a landmark event of my childhood. What will I be telling my children about this moment in 20 years' time?
-Rob Mitchell