Vermont GOP Goes After "Turncoat" James Jeffords

Well, while I don't love Jeffords' every single vote, a few (hundred thousand) of us might like Jumpin' Jim to stay where he is (I voted for him in 2000 when he was a Republican):

Declaring that it's payback time, the Vermont Republican Party is seeking money from out-of-state donors in its bid to oust Sen. James Jeffords, the independent whose defection from the GOP in 2001 stripped control of the U.S. Senate from the party for two years.

"Elected as a Republican, Turncoat Jeffords decided to single-handedly turn over control of the U.S. Senate to Tom Daschle and the Democrats," said the fund-raising letter, which was mailed to thousands of people in other states and signed by James Barnett, chairman of the state GOP.

"By working together, we can give Jim Jeffords what he deserves — forced retirement — and warn those who might think of doing the same thing in the future that they should think twice before pulling a 'Jim Jeffords,'" the letter said.

The tone of the letter — which Barnett said has already resulted in "healthy" donations — was immediately denounced by Jeffords' campaign manager as mean-spirited and unseemly.

"What surprises me the most is that a Vermonter would call for a nationwide attack on our senator," said Carolyn Dwyer, Jeffords' recently hired campaign manager who most recently managed Sen. Patrick Leahy's re-election bid last fall. "This isn't Washington, this is Vermont, and this type of gutter politics doesn't belong here."

The letter even drew a rebuke from at least one Republican lawmaker, who said that the state party should be ashamed of itself.

"This is just trash," said state Sen. Diane Snelling, R-Chittenden. "This is not an appropriate way to campaign."