A Model Demonstration

Notwithstanding the clear choice presented above, we think the race for Congress between Peter Welch and Martha Rainville is worthy of an Honorable Mention award, no matter how it turns out. The two candidates have put on a model demonstration of how to elucidate essential differences without resorting to undue negativity.

Senate President Welch has brought to the race a long history of being able to work effectively throughout the political spectrum. He remains focused on what can be accomplished—what used to be called politics as "the art of the possible."

Never have his qualities been on better display than in the last two legislative sessions. With an overwhelming Democratic majority in the Senate, Sen. Welch could have chosen high-profile posturing and confrontation with the Republican Gov. Jim Douglas. He didn't do that, and the result was that Montpelier, unlike Washington, was not stuck in neutral gridlock. We are crossing our fingers about how next year's Senate will function without Welch at the helm.

Gen. Martha Rainville came into the race with no experience in electoral politics at all, but she pretty much convinced us that the skills she used in the National Guard are the same ones needed by a successful politician. It's all about working with people, Rainville said, and she clearly knows how to do that. Despite a few blunders due to inexperience, she is running a strong but always civil campaign, appealing to a broad swath of voters even in Democratic Vermont.

It won't be this year, but sometime we would be happy to cast a vote for Martha Rainville for something.