Welch faces primary race
MONTPELIER, Vt.—U.S. Rep. Peter Welch is heading into his first re-election season facing a Democratic primary challenge from a candidate who feels Vermont's lone House member hasn't done enough to end the war in Iraq.
Craig Hill, of Montpelier, said he hopes to tap into discontent among Democrats and use well-placed television and radio ads to overcome the $930,000 Welch has in the bank and win the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 9 primary.
There is no Republican candidate for the seat now held by Welch, D-Vt.
"This doesn't help elect a Republican," Hill, 58, a Montpelier marketer who has lived in Vermont for 14 years, said of his candidacy. "It's a free vote for Democrats, they can put someone in there who will do what they want him to do."
Welch, for his part, said he was proud of the job he's done since becoming Vermont's representative in the U.S. House in January 2007.
"I've worked hard to build a bond of trust with Vermonters," Welch said Tuesday. "I've done things that have made a difference here in Vermont."
Welch cites his work to protect Vermont hospitals from losing $35 million in cuts to Medicare, funding money to help the National Guard replace equipment it needs to respond to emergencies in the state.
Hill's challenge sets up one of two statewide primary battles in the fall election campaign. Thomas Costello, of Brattleboro, and Nate Freeman, of Northfield, are seeking the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination.
The state Republican Party didn't find a candidate to run against Welch. Candidates from the Progressive and Liberty Union also filed the paperwork needed to be on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Thomas James Hermann, a Barre farm worker who served as a soldier in Iraq, has filed run as a Progressive candidate against Welch.
He, too, says Welch didn't do enough to end the war.
Perennial candidate Jane Newton, of South Londonderry, is also running against Welch, as the Liberty Union candidate. Newton said her party was against the use of violence, including war, poverty and the lack of health care.
"It comes down to guns or butter," she said Tuesday. "You can't have them both."
Welch, 61, a Hartland trial lawyer, was first elected to the Vermont House in 1980 and served as president pro tem of the state Senate before being elected to the House in 2006.
Welch has won praise in some quarters for his accomplishments as a freshman. He serves on two key committees -- the House Committee on Rules and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
And he has built up a campaign bank account that experts have said is intimidating to potential opponents.
Hill said one reason he decided to run was because no one had challenged Welch. Hill said many Vermonters were upset Welch hadn't done more to end the war, that he was part of the Democratic Party machine in Washington and that he followed the orders of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"Peter Welch goes along with this every inch of the way. Enough said," Hill said.
Hill said he wanted to tap into what he feels is a vein of discontent with Welch.
"I got a bulk of my signatures at the Democratic state convention in Barre," said Hill.
Hill said he was going to write his own television ads, to save money. He doesn't expect a large turnout in the primary.
Welch said he isn't taking re-election for granted.
"I love the job and want to do it for another two years," Welch said. "America is going to make a significant change in direction" in the election, which will also see a new president and new congressmen elected, he said.
"That could make real progress on returning our agenda to focus on middle-class economic issues, restore our position in the world and finally create a new energy policy."
