By Bob Benenson and Heather Garlich
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 3

Delegates: 22

Chairman: Billi Gosh

Hotel: Four Points Sheraton (310) 645-4600

1996 Election:
Clinton – 53%
Dole – 31%
Perot – 12%

The fact that Vice President Al Gore will likely be favored to carry Vermont for president this November is symbolic of the state's political evolution.

Vermont once was a pillar of Yankee Republicanism; in 1936, it was one of two states that favored Kansas Republican Alf Landon over President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But a couple of traits already in place then - a reverence for the state's largely unspoiled natural environment and a mind-your-own-business libertarianism - would over the years move Vermont in a more Democratic direction. Add in an influx of liberal ex-urbanites from cities such as New York and Boston, and you have the ingredients of one of the nation's most Democratic-leaning states.

The Republicans carried Vermont for president as recently as 1988, when then-Vice President George Bush edged Democrat Michael S. Dukakis, the governor of neighboring Massachusetts.

But President Clinton dominated the state twice, defeating Republican incumbent Bush in 1992 by 46 percent to 30 percent (with independent Ross Perot taking 23 percent) and trouncing 1996 Republican challenger Bob Dole by 53 percent to 31 percent.

The strongly pro-Gore Vermont delegation to the Democratic National Convention is confident that their candidate will continue the winning streak, in part because he is closely identified with environmentalist stands.

Billi Gosh, associate director of development for the Institute of Natural Science and chairman of Vermont's 22-member delegation, said, "Vermont is a very environmentally aware state." Gosh, who is attending her fifth national convention, voiced her concerns on environmental issues such as global warming, clean water and the protection of open space.

Despite Clinton's past success, Gosh said he should not be in the foreground of Gore's campaign - and that the vice president's wife Tipper should be. "[Clinton's] an asset as an adviser behind the scenes," Gosh said. "I like Gore because he's not afraid to admit that Tipper's his No. 1 adviser."

She added that Democrats will rally to Gore because a victory by Republican nominee George W. Bush would result in a much more conservative Supreme Court. "Gore will not appoint conservatives into the Supreme Court," she said concerning issues affecting individual rights, "that would reverse decades."

This is a clear concern for the large socially liberal constituency in Vermont, where a law was enacted this year to allow same-sex partners to join into civil unions. Two of Vermont's convention delegates are openly gay: state Auditor Ed Flanagan, who is running against state Sen. Jan Backus in the Sept. 12 primary for the right to challenge moderate Republican Sen. James M. Jeffords, and state Rep. Bill Lippert.

Health care will be another key issue for the Vermonters in Los Angeles. Veteran Gov. Howard Dean, who was on several "long lists" of possible vice presidential picks for Gore, is a physician and an authority within the Democratic Party on health care issues.

Dean will mark his ninth anniversary as governor on Aug. 14, the first day of the Democratic convention. In 1991, Dean, then in his second term as lieutenant governor, succeeded Republican Gov. Richard A. Snelling, who died in office. Dean was elected in his own right in 1992 and has been re-elected by wide margins each two years since.

The other most prominent member of the delegation is five-term Sen. Patrick J. Leahy.

The Vermont delegation was chosen on the basis of a March 7 primary that Gore easily won over former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley. Of the 15 delegates going to Los Angeles specifically pledged to a candidate, 11 are designated for Gore and four for Bradley.

Matthew Drummy, coordinator of writing instruction at Woodbury College, is one of the Bradley delegates. "I supported Bradley mainly for three issues: the environment, universal health care and campaign finance reform," he said. "We're all frustrated at the way big money dominates." But he added that he plans to support Gore in November.

Art editor/writer Genie Robbins is a Gore delegate but said she would have supported Bradley if he had won and scoffed at the thought of disunity in the delegation. "This is Vermont. We all talk to each other," she said.

VERMONT NOTABLES: Gov. Howard Dean; U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy; Vermont Secretary of State Deborah L. Markowitz; state Auditor Ed Flanagan, a candidate in this year's U.S. Senate primary; Billi Gosh, associate director of development for the Institute of Natural Science and chairman of Vermont's convention delegation.