Thanks for reminding us, Haik. Spot on post, also at Local Action Works. And a timely response is important, too. As an officer of Local Action Works, I left two polite messages on Mr Montroll's phone, and received no call back. I can't read the guy's mind, maybe his non-responsiveness was because Adrian had bowed out as a Dem candidate, but I'll tell you, when I called Ed, he assured me he would fill out the questionnaire. Moot point since he decided not to run? Nah, he would have done it and recognised it's important constituent service, too.

Good post, I think there's too much risk involved for a candidate to have an actual exchange on a blog. What the Pols are doing now is working fine (for them).

Dan Smith can't afford to have anyone figure out he's a right-winger this early. He has been using the internet very actively, in fact his campaign kick-off speech popped up in my facebook "feed".

When I commented on the video, something snarky like, "I bet he wins, turns out to be a right-winger" the friend directed me to his website as evidence that he's not a right-winger, I responded that I couldn't find anything very progressive, and "what's progressive about finishing the southern connector instead of fixing existing roads?" In retrospect, I probably should have just asked why she was supporting him. The video and the whole exchange were deleted a couple days later. As it turns out, she works for the Smith campaign.

That's called 'controlling the message.' It's important and hard to do on the internet.

Campaigns don't want to actually talk about ideas, not more than they have to. The candidate who positively engages the most people will win, and they can do that one-on-one and door-to-door much more safely and effectively than in print.

Also, where it would be unacceptable to ignore the question and repeat a talking point to most bloggers, many print journalists expect it and appreciate it.

You're right about the influence blogs can have, especially in a small town but the flip-side is that a candidate can get into office just by generating a buzz.

In Burlington, you can talk to almost every voter; personally. For better or worst, most people will vote for the person their gut tells them to. Especially if they hear a neighbor or friend say they're going for the same person.

Voters that aren't reading this blog don't pour through candidate interviews and campaign lit comparing and contrasting to draw their own conclusions.

Hell, one can run a campaign without issues at all. The outcome of District 3-4 might be a good example. All candidates were the same on the issues. Well, except the candidate who's position was that he didn't want the seat he was running for and got more votes than his running-mates' margin of victory, who happens to be... I digress.

Good comments all.

I know nothing of Dan Smith really, except having sat next to him in the city council meeting last spring when he applied for a spot on the planning board. He had Kurt Wright's endorsement - "we need more Republicans" on the commission, said Kurt. Dan Smith is philosophically a Repbublican, but in this town rarely does a mayoral candidate with an "R" next to his name get elected. So, as city council candidate Karen Paul did last March, he's running an an Independent. She received help from Progressives. So is Dan Smith; his treasurer is Eric Hoekstra!

Door-to-door and personal contact with the voters is key, as Ivan Jacobs writes.

While it could be argued that there are, and will continue to be, significant changes in the way we all communicate, I'd hold off in declaring that we're in the middle of a paradigm shift in politics. Hard core political junkies have found a home on the internet. Is there grass roots momentum generated from local blogs? Absolutely, but you may be overstating its influence. If a candidate neglects to answer questions from Haik, Owen or Odum, I bet that roughly 40,000 people in the city of Burlington won't know or care. It's not the medium that causes the relevance. The number of people who vote in the next mayoral election in Burlington will likely be a small percentage of those who are eligible to vote regardless of any additional newspaper or internet coverage.

Also, it's a bit too Bill O'Reilly for you to state that "I want the answer to these questions and my readers do too". What next? Threats of boycotts? Come on. I think your list of questions are relevant but I have questions of my own I'd like answered. I know that by March I'll be able to ask my questions of these candidates even if you can't get them to do it here. We live in a community that allows for that. We all have the power and responsibility to get answers to the questions we seek from our politicians before we vote.

"Learn to write and stand behing your thoughts like bloggers do" is a bit of a strech too. Blog owners have the power to manipulate their message (and ours) on any given day. Put up, take down, edit content as they please. Blog readers and responders don't have that luxury. Typing answers to questions can be daunting and requires a level of trust that your words won't be misconstrued, manipulated or misread. It is very difficult to convey emotion in type. I don't want to elect the person who can type the best answers to your questions. I want a bit more.

As always, thanks for having this space as a forum for conversation. I value your opinion and stop by often to read your take on what's happening in Burlington.

Good discussion people! Great points!

If any of the candidates for mayor or council who are reading right now want to jump into the discussion, please do! We know you're reading. You're not fooling anybody!

you're sexy!