So the Republicans elected a new party chairman Saturday.

It is Rob Roper, 38, of Stowe, the state director of the anti-tax, pro-small-government group Freedom Works, author of Vermonters for a Better Education and opponent of publicly run pre-school.

If you're a Democrat, that's the guy you hoped won the race. Roper is considered more conservative than the other candidate, former state Rep. Alan Parent of St. Albans. As far as the Democrats are concerned, if the Republicans take a more conservative swing, that's a good thing for them because it leaves the D's more of the middle.

If you're a Republican, there is an argument for staking out your own territory and distinguishing yourself from the other guys, becoming the voice of certain issues, such as property tax rights.

Is that a wise way for the Vermont Republican Party to go? Look at the sort of Republicans who get elected in Vermont. Jim Douglas, not Ruth Dwyer. Diane Snelling, not Skip Vallee. There are only seven Republicans in the state Senate this term, most of them moderates.

When it comes to recruiting candidates for public office, will the party remember that its success has rested with moderates? Or will it go the way of national Republicans and leave no room for the likes of Jim Jeffords? If you do that in Vermont these days, can you elect anyone to office?

I'm not saying that's what they've done, but those are questions for y'all to chew on.

- Terri Hallenbeck