An interesting debate is beginning to emerge from the Democratic Gubernatorial recount that is commencing.

Does the recount help or hurt the to be determined Democratic candidate at the polls come November?

You know you love them. Here are the official write-in results for last week's Vermont primary.

PRIMARY ELECTION
AUGUST 24, 2010

US SENATOR

Democratic Party
Len Britton, 1; Peter Gailbrath, 1; Mark Zwickfer, 1.

The official Vermont Democratic Primary count is complete and the nomination is going to Peter Shumlin by 197 votes.

WCAX reports: "The latest certified results from the Secretary of State's office give Peter Shumlin a 197 vote edge over Doug Racine. That's five votes more than the 192-vote margin he held in unofficial balloting on election night.

In the final certified count, Shumlin received 18,276 to Racine's 18,079."

Markowitz got 17,580.

With just a single town left to report the numbers currently look like this:

Peter Shumlin 18,228 25%
Doug Racine 18,053 25%
Deb Markowitz 17,569 24%
Matt Dunne 15,099 21%
Susan Bartlett 3,788 5%

99% / 259 of 260 precincts reporting

Shumlin and Racine have traded first place for hours now by a few dozen votes in many instances.

The format is:
Office
Name - total votes - district 1 total, district 2 total, district 3 total

.............
Democratic Primary

US Senator

Daniel Freilich - 164 - 62, 41, 61
Patrick Leahy - 1785 - 673, 555, 557

Representative to Congress

Peter Welch - 1763 - 666, 543, 554

Governor

Susan Bartlett - 38 - 13, 11, 14
Matt Dunne - 334 - 130, 105, 99
Deb Markowitz - 255 - 115, 80, 60
Doug Racine - 219 - 83, 79, 57
Peter Shumlin - 1132 - 408, 326, 398

Second in a series of interviews by the Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health asking, "What is Single Payer?"

Jerry Levy of Brattleboro responds.

(video below)

I would just like to let my iBrattleboro friends know that I am highly impressed with Matt Dunne, for whom I am voting obviously. I have a sense that Matt would make not a good governor (which for instance Doug Racine would), but a great governor.

I have been married to the Windham County Sheriff, Keith Clark for 26 years. I am running his campaign while he is absent, serving our country in Afghanistan. Generally, employees are guaranteed their jobs back when they return from war. Elected officials, though, are not guaranteed the same comfort, especially if they are away during an election year.

As a result, when the election for Windham County sheriff arrives, I hope every one of you, whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, will consider Keith Clark as the best person for the job.

Fascinating debate show on VPR last night with the 5 Democratic challengers - did you catch it?

I came out with a new favorite. I had not expected that. My mind was made up. It was a pro forma listen, I thought.

But before I reveal who my new favorite is, here some other observations from the show.

First of all, I call it a show because a debate did not take place. There were questions and answers and some posturing and campaigning, but no debating.

Social Security, Happy 75th Anniversary!

Dear Fellow Vermonter,

This Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of Social Security and, all across the country, people and senior organizations are celebrating this enormous achievement (read more on my website). Before President Franklin Roosevelt signed the law on August 14, 1935, about half of the senior citizens in American lived in poverty. That began to change on January 31, 1940, when the first monthly retirement check, for $22.54, was issued to retired legal secretary Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, VT (pictured, below).