I don’t know about you, but I’m still living in the afterglow of the most positive non-presidential election I’ve experienced since 1974. I was certainly still there on Friday morning, the third day after the election, when Burlington City Council President Ben Traverse just couldn’t wait any longer to launch his campaign for mayor.

And my reaction was, c.mon, couldn’t you let it breathe just a little?

I mean, the political storylines in Vermont included the Democrats and Progressives retaking their legislative supermajorities and gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo doing her best to bring people together and erase the differences between Vermonters. A bit of a honeymoon period would have been nice before Traverse pivoted to a candidacy that’s certain to exacerbate the tensions between caucus partners. For starters, he’ll be running against incumbent Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, assuming she seeks another term. Even if she doesn’t, there’s certain to be a Progressive nominee Traverse will be trying to topple.

There’s also the fact that, since he became the top Democrat in city politics, he’s done his best to be a thorn in the side of the current administration.

That’s all fine. He has every right to run the campaign he wants. People have every right to support him. I just wish he’d held off a bit longer, out of respect to the long campaign season we’d all just been through and to let the good feelings from last Tuesday linger in the air.

Plus, I don’t understand the rush. City elections are almost four months away, longer than the general election season we just exited. Party caucuses are in December, but I doubt that Traverse will have serious competition for his party’s nomination or any real trouble fundraising among the real estate/developer/deep pocketed business types who will surely flock to his banner. (Get your checkbooks ready, Pomerleaus, Tarrants, Pizzagallis, Bissonettes, Boardmans, et al.)

The Seven Days story about Traverse’s announcement, penned by Aaron Calvin, made for interesting reading. Traverse’s repeated vows to focus his campaign on “positive things” was undercut at every turn by references to his past amd present statements, which were all about drawing a line — and driving a wedge — between Democrats and Progressives. Take, for example, this passage about Traverse’s Friday appearance on WVMT Radio’s “Morning Drive”:

Traverse said he didn’t want to his campaign to be about Burlington’s problems and instead hoped to focus on the “positive things.” He discussed the need to support the downtown business community, provide resources for the city’s homeless population and step up enforcement of drug laws.

It’s clear that Traverse hopes to make the mayoral election on Town Meeting Day in March a referendum on public safety. He told [“Morning Drive” cohost Kurt] Wright that his first priority is to support recruitment efforts to rebuild the city’s police department. He also criticized Progressive Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak for cutting funding for recovery programs and downtown events amid the city’s recent budget shortfalls.

“Positive things,” eh? Followed by a litany of the city’s problems and alleged Progressive failures? Yeah, sounds “positive” to me.

Traverse has effecively been running for mayor for a long time. He has used his Council leadership to criticize the mayor at every opportunity. Any remaining doubt was removed in July when he launched the “Burlington Forward” policy initiative that wrapped a punitive approach to homelessness and substance abuse inside a candy coating of compassion.

Generally speaking, Burlington Democrats have trained their fire on the Progressive Mayor instead of the Republican governor who doesn’t give a flying fuck about Burlington’s problems. Which are, in fact, the problems of every significant city and town in every corner of Vermont, including those led by Republicans. I suppose it’s only natural fot the Dems to go after the Progs since the GOP is a null set in Burlington politics, but it doesn’t help create a unified policy profile for the incoming supermajorities. It doesn’t do enough to put Gov. Phil Scott’s feet to the fire.

But then I’m not a Burlington voter, so this campaign isn’t aimed at me. The people of the Queen City will have their say in March. They could have been given a break from politics after the election. The fact that they didn’t get it says something about city Democrats’ provincial outlook and tone-deafness when it comes to their role in state politics.