Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • 18

B6 Rutland Daily Herald State FridaV- July 21, 2000 usual unusual Race for Congress features mix as -V- tt I I id Am jPe9e0T eleBBUQO(KStQHe9 Bf MKE ECKEL The Associated Press MONTPELIER For more evidence of Vermont's through-the-loo king-glass politics, look no further than the race for the state's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now running to be the next representative is a socialist incumbent, a moderate Republican transsexual, and a man who will have run as a congressional candidate in three different parties in more than a dozen elections. With a strong dose of left-leaning, rumpled populism, Bernard Sanders, 59, is now running for his sixth term to represent Vermont In the 1998 election, Sanders long ago a member of the Liberty Umon Party and now unaffiliated with any party soundly won with more than twice the votes of his nearest challenger, a Republican stockbroker from This year, however, neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties in Vermont are pushing any candidate. Or at least not with much enthusiasm.

"(Sanders) clearly cuts across the political spectrum in his political support, which is why the major parties aren't putting much effort out," said Cindy Metcalf, ity that it's a difficult race," he said. He said, however, the party would be giving its full support to Kerin 's candidacy. "We're going to give her all the logistical support she needs in the race," said Garahan. From the left, Peter Diamondstone of Brattleboro is challenging Sanders, whom Diamondstone called a "schizo- Ehrenic Democrat." In 1998, iamondstone lost the Republican primary, then received only 1 percent of the vote in the general election as a Liberty Union candidate. "It's the Democrats' turn to be visited" this year, he said.

Diamondstone, 66, is the secretary of the Liberty Union Party a party with which Sanders first got his political start nearly 30 years Diamondstone, who's lost track of how many campaigns he's run in, gained notoriety in 1996 when he was arrested trying to crash a televised State House debate featuring Sanders and two challengers. Among other things, Diamondstone accuses Sanders of being a lackey of the agribusiness and petrochemical industries and utilities. They don't even need to give KapeiJtojiKerfei Running as Republican chairwoman of the state Democratic Party. From the right, the GOP mantle is being carried by Karen Ann Kerin. A political newcomer from South Royalton, Kerin, 56, is running on a mixed platform that includes opposition to gun control and income taxes, and support for campaign finance reform and mandatory civics and geography classes for high school students.

The party's support for, Kerin, however, has been only lukewarm, due to questions about Kerin 's gender. Born Charles Kerin, Kerin said cancer forced a gender-change and a name-change in the early 1990s. Lloyd Robinson, a transportation consultant from East Montpelier, last month said he would also seek the Republican nomination to challenge Sanders, but he failed to file his nominating papers by the July 1 7 deadline. Robinson, 50, said he may still decide to run as a write-in candidate in the September Republican primary. Patrick Garahan, chairman of the state Republican Party, said as much as anything, the lack of an aggressive party push for a candidate was due to the strength of the incumbent "It's a recognition of the real voted to send to me Rep.

Btraartf Sanders Independent incumbent money to a Republican," Diamondstone said. "They've got their man." Sanders dismissed criticism that he's all but become a member of the Democratic Party, or that his voting record is sympathetic to Republican causes. He votes with his Democratic colleagues most of the time, and he said there wasn't anything wrong with that "There are people who would want me to vote 'No on everything," said Sanders. "But that's not why the people of Vermont Liberty Union veteran If his political priorities appear to have moderated, he said, it's only because he's working in a Republican-controlled Congress. My views have not changed, my vision has not changed," said Sanders, "but I've got to do more that just give speeches on the floor of the House." Anthony Gierzynski, a political science professor at the University of Vermont, said most attention this fall would likely be focused on primary election races for governor and U.S.

Senate, than the General Election races for gov-' ernor and the Legislature. Washington." Sanders, who plans to begin campaigning in earnest next month with a series of statewide meetings, touted his recent public campaigns as proof of his achievements. Among the issues Sanders has championed are reducing high costs of prescription drugs and home heating oil. He loudly supports labor causes, such as trade issues, as well as pushing for increased funding for agricultural tourism in Vermont REGISTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A VACATION FROM ONE OF THESE PARTICIPATING RETAILERS. Sales Service Parts Stevens LAWN GARDEN $449.00 QUEEN SETS RT.

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