Gov. Peter Shumlin got some national media attention on his trip to Washington, D.C. this week, including at a Democratic Governor's Association event Thursday night.
But as head of the Democratic Governors鈥� Association (DGA), Shumlin is taking heat from Dems in the state where his counterpart, Republican Governors' Association Chairman Chris Christie, won reelection last year.
The New Jersey gubernatorial election of 2013 was a tough one for Democratic candidate Barbara Buono; she lost by almost 500,000 votes. Christie鈥檚 victory over Democrat Jon Corzine in 2009 was by a much slimmer margin of 98,643 votes. Some say Shumlin鈥檚 DGA dealt Buono a losing hand in 2013 after reportedly contributing $3 million to Corzine鈥檚 bid.
The DGA鈥檚 contribution to Buono last year: $7,600.
Shumlin defended the decision in :
Asked at POLITICO鈥檚 fourth annual State Solutions Conference whether he stood by the choice to invest only about $7,600 dollars in New Jersey Democratic challenger Barbara Buono鈥檚 campaign, Shumlin responded, 鈥淲e made the right decision there.鈥� His job, said Shumlin (D-Vt.) is to 鈥渞eelect incumbent Democratic governors, and elect Democratic governors where we currently have Republicans serving, where we can win,鈥� he said.
Apparently, , campaign funds or not.
Shumlin said in the interview that the DGA has its sights set on states with better odds of Democratic victory: Florida, Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan.
