***updated 7:50 P.M.***

Good turnout for Gov. Jim Douglas' rescheduled weekly presser at the Statehouse Tuesday.

Lots of topics covered, though, yours truly was the only member of the Fourth Estate interested (in response to a reader's suggestion) in where Jim Douglas stands in the wake of another Vermonter's death - Christopher DeGiovine - in the Bush-Cheney War based on lies way over in Iraq.

PRESS: In light of the recent death of another Vermonter in Iraq, do you still support the Bush-Cheney War in Iraq and if so why?

DOUGLAS: Well, Peter, my view isn’t different from what it’s been. I believe that the Congress and the President have a responsibility to find a credible exit strategy from our engagement in Iraq. I was encouraged to hear a report on the radio this morning that after a veto there may be grounds for reaching some compromise on a funding bill with some benchmarks or other ways of defining that strategy. So I certainly hope they are able to do that and I think that’s their responsibility.

PRESS: You sound like you would support the Democrat bill. Congress is trying, as you know, to get out of Iraq. The President seems like he’s not. And Congress has put timetables, time lines on getting out; goals and targets to shoot at. Do you support those?

DOUGLAS: Well, I don’t know about specific dates, but that’s the kind of give and take that has to occur for the Congress and the president to find common ground, something they can both agree to.

PRESS: Is there anything the President is doing that you take exception to?  Or not doing?

DOUGLAS: Well, I’m not a military strategist.

PRESS: But you’re a politician. He’s a politician. Given the situation, your party?  His popularity?

DOUGLAS: Well, I’m not sure what the question is.

PRESS: The question is, is there any advice you would have for the president to do something or not do something? To change course on something?

DOUGLAS: Well, to work with the Congress to find some common ground, a bill that both branches can agree to.

Really?

On another matter, Gov. Jim Douglas was not setting the best example today. That's because the license plate on his gubernatorial Chevrolet expired at midnight.

Bummer.

That's a picture of the CH. 5 cameraman Oli Birgisson getting a shot of the evidence. Douglas brushed it aside at his weekly pressser when we brought it up in the context of New Jersey Gov. John Corzine not wearing his seat belt.

"It's not my car," said Gov. Scissorhands.

***UPDATE***

Marsillyiss, er, Marselis Parsons reported on CH. 3's Six O'Clock News that the Guv's new plate sticker had been mailed to the wrong address.

The new one, Mr. Parsons told viewers, had been affixed by afternoon's end.

Was the Guv breaking the law...since midnight anyway?

I called BPD. Great phone system. Couldn't reach a live "officer-in-charge." So we hit the chief's number.

Chief not in. But Deputy Chief is.

Our lucky day, eh?

Wrong, Deputy Chief been away from enforcing that stuff for quite some time. He's not sure if there's a few days "grace" period.

I try South Burlington PD. No live cops, but the lady in dispatch is quite certain anyone driving a vehicle with an April expired plate could be pulled over and popped from midnight on.

Whew!

Happy May Day.