Burlington, VT - The Rutland Herald and Times Argus have endorsed Peter Welch for Congress:

"Peter Welch, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House, is knowledgeable, experienced and committed to working for change in Washington, D.C... Welch has run a serious, issue-oriented campaign, rolling out a series of thoughtful position papers that could have served as guidance for the national Democratic Party... this is the year for Peter Welch, who will bring experience, dedication and new ideas to the U.S. House. He has our endorsement." - Rutland Herald & Times Argus

"Welch for the House" - Rutland Herald & Times Argus - October 31, 2006

Peter Welch, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House, is knowledgeable, experienced and committed to working for change in Washington, D.C. His Republican opponent, Martha Rainville, has shown herself to be a personable candidate, but she has been unable to show that she fully grasps the scope of the disasters authored by Republicans in Congress and the White House in the last four years.

Welch deserves the support of Vermont voters.

Rainville became known to Vermonters during her service as adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard. She gave voice to the appreciation and the grief Vermonters felt at the service and the sacrifice of Vermont's citizen-soldiers. She had no political experience, but it seemed like a reasonable hope that her public exposure with the Guard might be translated into political support.

Welch, meanwhile, has been working in the political trenches at the Vermont Statehouse during two decades. He served as president pro tempore of the Senate - the leader of the majority - in the 1980s, leaving the Senate to run for Congress in 1988 and then for governor against Richard Snelling in 1990. After a period out of office, he returned to the Senate in 2001, and soon his fellow Democrats elected him president pro tempore again.

As a legislative leader, Welch has gained an intimate working knowledge of the legislative process and a wealth of experience handling complex issues. He was instrumental in helping the Legislature toward a reasonable bipartisan compromise on health care this year, refusing to let the new Catamount Health plan run aground on partisan politics. He received criticism from the left for his willingness to compromise, but he was looking for a positive result, and he got one.

Over the years, he has become familiar with a wide range of issues, including the energy and environmental challenges that are likely to predominate in the coming decade. He is not equivocal about the danger of global warming. And he will be serious about helping to establish a tax and budget policy that reverses the Bush administration's favoritism toward the wealthy and returns the nation to fiscal responsibility. Rainville is far too willing to countenance fiscal travesties such as elimination of the estate tax.

Welch has run a serious, issue-oriented campaign, rolling out a series of thoughtful position papers that could have served as guidance for the national Democratic Party. He has been dealing with these issues long enough that he did not need to crib from the Web sites of other candidates in order to put his positions together. That Rainville's campaign was caught doing so highlighted her lack of depth and experience on the issues.

Welch has said more than once that the election this year is about more than Rainville and himself. By that he means that it is crucially important that the Democrats seize control of one or both houses of Congress. This year more than most years, party matters. The Republican leadership of Congress has been mired in scandal reaching all the way into the White House, and it has either rubber-stamped the damaging policies of the White House or neglected the pressing issues of the day.

Welch's clear voice on the Iraq war stands in stark contrast to Rainville's hesitant and equivocal voice. Like many Republicans, Rainville has been reluctant to speak ill of the Republicans who created the Iraq fiasco, evidencing the kind of political timidity that has neutered Congress as an effective check on an irresponsible and incompetent executive.

If Rainville is serious about continuing in Vermont politics, she has established herself as the kind of moderate Republican who often serves Vermont well, and should she lose the election this year, there is no reason she should not be able to pursue other forms of service.

But this is the year for Peter Welch, who will bring experience, dedication and new ideas to the U.S. House. He has our endorsement.