[From the 2002 campaign] Jason Gibbs, my communications director, drove me around most of the time in the home stretch. I was lucky to have a stable of twenty-something\u2019s on my team. I don\u2019t know if they kept me young, but they kept me going! Jason ![\"bur0829douglashistoryc1\"](\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/crvt-officialblog\/files\/2014\/11\/bur0829douglashistoryc1.jpg\")
navigated in my 2000 Dodge Neon, which became a symbol of my frugality. It had no air conditioning or power-anything. It was fuel-efficient and lasted until 2011, when at 143,000 miles with a lot of rust and many strange, troubling noises, I traded it in.<\/p>\n
We scheduled a lot of \u2018sign waves;\u2019 that\u2019s where a group of supporters, sometimes with the candidate, stand at a busy intersection with a campaign banner and wave wildly to the passing traffic, with the hope of eliciting a response, either a wave or a honk. It\u2019s hard to measure the efficacy of any single activity, but I think these events serve to get the candidate\u2019s name before the public and to demonstrate momentum. When I was waving to traffic in a downpour or blizzard, I always wondered if motorists would be more inclined to vote for me because I\u2019m so dedicated to the cause that I\u2019m there in such terrible weather or less likely to support me because they think I\u2019m not smart enough to go inside.<\/p>\n
![\"Obama-moving-sofa_1394472i\"](\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/crvt-officialblog\/files\/2014\/11\/Obama-moving-sofa_1394472i-300x193.jpg\")
Each year at the State Dinner the President offers a toast to the nation\u2019s governors and the chairman of NGA reciprocates with a toast to the President and the country. In 2010 that duty fell to me. The President went to the podium and fulfilled his responsibility, after which he proclaimed, \u201cLet\u2019s eat!\u201d His staff nervously reminded him that I was standing off to the side and was prepared to offer my toast. \u201cOh, wait a minute!\u201d he said, quieting the crowd just as the guests had begun to chatter among themselves. \u201cThis isn\u2019t the waiter,\u201d he said, looking at me in my tuxedo. \u201cThis is Governor Douglas, who\u2019d like to offer a toast.\u201d I did and we enjoyed a nice meal. President Obama got some grief for relying more heavily than his predecessors on a teleprompter from which he delivered speeches. In fact, some wags began to refer to the Teleprompter of the United States, or TOTUS. That evening he didn\u2019t use one, but the text of his toast was taped to the podium. Mine was offered without notes.<\/p>\n
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Jim Douglas was first elected to the Vermont House in 1972, just months after graduating from Middlebury College. In 1994, Douglas became State Treasurer and was re-elected three times. In 2002, he was elected to the first of four terms as Vermont\u2019s 80th<\/sup> Governor.<\/p>\n The Vermont Way is published by Common Ground, New Haven Vermont. For more information http:\/\/www.thevermontway.us\/<\/a><\/p>\n