National Republicans are targeting Vermont's Gubernatorial Race

Republican Governors Association wastes no time with first ad for Scott

The Republican Governors Association is the first organization out of the gate to launch a media buy after the Vermont primary.

The TV ad posted on YouTube promotes Phil Scott, the GOP winner in Tuesday’s primary. Scott beat his rival, Bruce Lisman, by 20 points.

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Thompson declined to disclose how much the RGA is spending on the ad.

“It’s a significant buy,” Thompson said by email. “We don’t usually comment on exactly how much we are spending or plan to spend since that’s a part of our strategy. Same for budgeting, that’s not something we comment publicly on since it’s a part of our strategy. I can say that we see Phil Scott as an extremely strong candidate and the Vermont governor’s race as a prime opportunity for pick-up.”

It is not known at this time where the ad will air.

Thompson says the RGA is investing in 12 gubernatorial races this year.

http://vtdigger.org/2016/08/10/republican-governors-association-wastes-no-time-first-ad-scott/

It's a really good ad for Vermont, where negative advertising almost invariably backfires badly.

More:

Margolis: For Republicans, Scott is the life of a small party

Vermont Republicans are feeling pretty good this week.

Both of them?

No, of course not. Old joke, and a bit unfair. As it turns out, 46,383 Vermonters were Republicans on Tuesday, some 60 percent of them voting to make Lt. Gov. Phil Scott the party’s nominee for governor in November.

That’s what Republicans are feeling good about, and their confidence may be justified. Conventional political wisdom — which, remember, is more often than not correct (that’s how it gets to be conventional) — makes Scott the favorite over Sue Minter, who won the Democratic primary.

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But the challenges confronting the GOP remain formidable. There is no party registration in Vermont, so no exact count of party loyalty. Eric Davis, the emeritus professor of political science at Middlebury College, estimates that about 25 percent of the state’s roughly 450,000 registered voters consider themselves Republicans and 35 percent are Democrats.

That might understate the Democratic advantage. The results of recent elections indicate that what the computer nerds would call the default position of most of those 40 percent who are independents is to vote Democratic unless given some reason to do otherwise.

Scott, who is down-to-earth, affable and moderate, might provide that reason. But his victory is by no means certain. Sue Minter is an energetic and appealing candidate. She has the challenge of separating herself from the Shumlin administration, which she served as transportation secretary. But that can be done, and she and her advisers quite possibly know how to do it, though no doubt Scott and the Republicans will make it as hard for them as possible.

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https://vtdigger.org/2016/08/11/margolis-republicans-scott-life-small-party/

Jon Margolis is VTDigger's columnist. He is the author of The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964, left the Chicago Tribune early in 1995 after 23 years as Washington correspondent, sports writer, correspondent-at-large and general columnist.