Leafleting at the Montpelier Farmers' Market

I hope people across the state who might be following this blog will have taken the initiative to print out leaflets themselves and distribute them at food coops, farmers' markets, wherever one or two gather together.  I wanted to let you know how it went for us in Montpelier at the Farmers' Market between 10:30am and 1pm.

It was a beautiful day and the place was jammed.  Two of us handed out maybe 150 or so leaflets about the write-in campaign, the one-sided piece that starts out:  "Had it with Shumlin?".  I'd say 10% got a look at that line there at the top and refused the sheet, always in good humor.  Then at the other end, about 15% seemed more or less well-informed and interested, positive, even mad as hell about one, several, or all of the issues they saw mentioned on the leaflet.  A lot of the rest took the sheet saying they would read it later, so we let them off easy with only a little proselytizing.  A surprising number of people were out-of-state tourists, many interested in the campaign.  Many had a look on their face that seemed to me to say, "Phew, at least it wasn't 7th Day Adventists!"  A lot seemed to be confused about how a primary works, where you get three ballots but only fill out one, etc.

I gave one to Tony Klein, chair of the Vermont House natural resources committee and fanatical supporter of ridgeline wind, the CVPS merger, and probably everything else we stand against.  He was already talking to some people but I did get a big snort and a derisive chuckle out of him.  That made me happy.

We printed out the one-sided leaflet and then also used a highlighter on the "Had it with Shumlin" line at the top and then the "write in Annette Smith" line at the bottom.  I think it really helped orient people to the basics of the message after we interrupted them eating or talking or shopping.

I'd love to hear about other people's experiences with getting the word out.