It’s been years since Gov. Phil Scott has had to run a competitive race, and maybe his political team has gotten soft or something. Because when it comes to shooting oneself in the foot, it’s hard to top a Republican governor texting voters in Vermont’s most progressive Senate district on behalf of the centrist candidate. Who, spoiler alert, lost.

I mean, who’s in charge over there? Baldrick?

This wasn’t the governor’s only ill-considered stomp into Democratic primary turf. His team also sent texts on behalf of Elizabeth Brown, faux-Dem challenger to incumbents Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood. Both are committee chairs and influential members of the House Democratic caucus. Ya think they’ll remember this little misadventure with gratitude? Ya think the admin’s relationship with the Legislature just took a small but discernible turn for the worse?

My guess? Either Team Scott is just desperate to move the needle on legislative races or they’ve got too much time on their hands, what with a snoozer of a contest against Dem nominee Esther Charlestin their biggest “challenge.” Maybe they should just take the rest of the year off.

The other big bran fart emanating from P.O. Box 988 is the tired redeployment of “Restore Balance,” which has been a Republican mantra since at least the year 2012, and I’m not kidding. Just look up the dormant but still extant Green Mountain Daily, where I got my start in this bishizzle. November 7, 2012: The all-timer boondoggle known as Vermonters First, which saw megadonor Lenore Broughton fruitlessly spend a million-plus on fiscally conservative causes — and which borrowed “Restore Balance” from the VTGOP — did a complete faceplant in the election*. June 15, 2014: New VTGOP chair David Sunderland test-drives “Restore Balance” and quickly discovers that Vermont voters don’t give a good goddamn about “balance,” which I’ve always seen as Republicans begging for affirmative action: “Our candidates may suck and our policies are unpopular, but please can’t we have a few scraps from the table?”

*Broughton’s spendthrift right-hand man was none other than Tayt Brooks, who’s been a key member of Scott’s inner circle since he became governor.

You know what I’ve always said. You want balance? Win some damn elections.

Here’s another entry in the “Restore Balance” scrap heap. Anyone remember Vision to Action Vermont, or V2AVT for short? It also splatted ignominiously on the shores of #vtpoli in the summer of ’14. The group was spearheaded by two fiscally conservative House members, Heidi Scheuermann and Paul Ralston, and it sought to, yep, Restore Balance to Montpelier. I was gonna say something about “gone but not forgotten,” but hell, they’re forgotten.

I could go on, but that’s enough historical trivia. Suffice it to say that any political operation with functional self-awareness would know better than to trot out a tired old talking point that has never worked. Never, ever, ever, not even once.

The voters seem perfectly content with our weird status quo: Strong Dem/Prog majorities in the Legislature and good ol’ good ol’ Phil in the corner office. Even in the wake of double-digit property tax increases, there is still no sign of measurable voter discontent. There is no sign that all those people who vote for Scott and all the Democrats on offer have changed their minds or gotten tired of our Statehouse fandango.

I can’t say I’ve got a better messaging idea for Team Scott. But using “Restore Balance” reveals a profound lack of imagination and a high tolerance for failure. Definition of insanity, right?