Tim, here’s how Vermont voted in the 2000 presidential election: Gore 50.63% Bush 40.70% Nader 6.92%. Notice the huge percentage for Nader, and that’s in addition to a very substantial margin for Gore in an even election year. Obviously, Vermont is a very liberal state. Bush had a lower percentage in Vermont than in California (41.65%), where he ran very weakly. On the other hand, there is just a grain of truth in what Carlson was saying. The socialists in Burlington went for Nader. But five states did give Bush a lower percentage than Vermont: Connecticut 38.44%, Hawaii 37.46%, Massachusetts 32.50%, New York 35.23%, and Rhode Island 31%. By this reckoning, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York are the most liberal states in the union, and Vermont follows in sixth place. But I’d say the sixth most anti-Bush state, with an usually high percentage of pro-Nader hard leftists to boot, counts as an awfully darned liberal state.