Against All Odds

By Dan Cohen for Patch.com

BURLINGTON, VT --

It was election night, November 7, 1972, when after several beers, I joined a fellow Democratic headquarters volunteer and we drove to Bellows Falls to knock on the door of a newly elected governor.

Thomas Salmon had just won a huge and historic victory against all odds. I was 22.

The national Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern had just lost every state in the union except Massachusetts, but Salmon's victory lit up our "spirits" at headquarters.

Billy Finnegan and I drove south in his car to go shake the hand of the new governor-elect.

It must have been 2 a.m. or later when we arrived and knocked on the front door of the newly-minted governor successor. Salmon's wife, Madge, opened the door.

Vermont's first-lady-to-be welcomed us in with a smile, despite our being total strangers to her, in the darkness of the early morning.

Only Mrs. Salmon and the governor-elect were there. She beckoned her husband, announcing to him that he had celebrant visitors.

Mrs. Salmon disappeared, leaving us with the soon-to-be governor.

Salmon escorted us down to the basement, where he gave us each a 12 -ounce can of Schaefer. He also had one.

Along with the spirits, he offered a brief victory speech, including tidbits about what his new administration would mean for Vermont.

Just Gov.-elect Tom Salmon, Finnegan, and me. One early morning in rural Vermont.

It's amazing that nobody else was there after such a victory, even though it was late.

We were there 15 minutes, after which we said goodbye to the incoming Vermont governor and the Green Mountain State's newly minted first lady-to-be.

We headed back to Burlington.