You could argue - and perfectly rationally - that it doesn't amount to a hill of beans what the governor of Vermont says about the president or Iraq. That said, Gov. Jim Douglas is often asked at news conferences to comment on national and world events. He's a committed reader of newspapers (let that be a lesson to all of you), so he's usually up to speed on said events.

Thursday, the subject was the president's speech the night before declaring that he's sending more than 20,000 more troops to Iraq. If you sit at the news conference table often enough you get used to Douglas defending Bush, not always vociferously, but at least steadfastly.

That didn't happen Thursday. Douglas said flat out he thought the president was going down the wrong path. Why the change of heart? Because things just haven't turned around in Iraq, Douglas said, and he and most Vermonters and most Americans are sick of it. Clearly, he read the papers the day after the election.

Earlier in the week at a different news conference table, brand-new Congressman Peter Welch said the Democrats' game plan on the war in Iraq is to get Republicans on their side, speaking out against an increase in troops, in hopes of dissauding the president. If Douglas is any indication, it sounds like Welch will find them.

- Terri Hallenbeck