In and Out; the Loser Edition

The outcome of the 2015 Burlington, VT mayoral election was never in doubt; the only question was how strongly would the Democratic incumbent, Miro Weinberger win by and how badly would the Vermont secession flack Greg Guma lose by.

Weinberger defeated Guma by a factor of ten, garnering more than two thirds of the votes cast. Guma's distant third place showing was only matched by the last place loser who's campaign consisted primarily of hanging out at a coffee shop. Guma credits his miserable showing to "Matt for the strategic intelligence and social media savvy." That would likely be Matt Cropp who has yet to run an open campaign that was ever been even remotely successful. My personal favorite campaign was his stint as campaign manager for the 2010 secesher gubernatorial candidate Dennis Steele for whom far fewer than one percent of Vermont registered voters cast a ballot. Subsequently, Cropp penned a not quite concession posting that promised a lot for the future, declared Hancock, VT to be the secesher provisional capital, and then disappeared until his next electoral loss. Cropp went on to lose a bid for a board seat at City Market and for a local credit union. The Guma shellacking will be another significant notch on Matt's electoral guns.

Maybe Matt can craft a Guma concession message that proposes an outsized role for Guma in the next three years of the Weinberger administration. Certainly as the only candidate to run a negative ad in the campaign, Guma's earned something.

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