Hours before the president delivered his State of the Union, commentators were talking about the content of his speech. No such thing happens here in Vermont.

Gov. Jim Douglas' 2008 budget was as tightly held a secret as the Oscar winners. Democratic leaders weren't too pleased about that Tuesday as they tried to figure out what was in the budget so they could comment on it. "We haven't even been given the courtesy of seeing this budget in outline form," said House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho.

House Republican Leader Steve Adams of Hartland had a briefing from administration staff, but he wasn't allowed to leave the room with any of the paperwork.

Same went for the media. During a briefing, we could look at a summary of the budget numbers, but when it came time to leave, Administration Secretary Mike Smith wanted the pages back. It wasn't until after the speech that we - or anyone - could have the budget booklet.

We were given copies of the governor's speech just before he started speaking. Jason Gibbs, Douglas' spokesman, said those were given to some lawmakers last year, but he said there was too much shuffling of pages during the speech. They'd have none of that this year. The speech wasn't available to most people until afterward.

- Terri Hallenbeck and Nancy Remsen