I spent my Sunday evening at the Old Labor Hall in Barre, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo appeared before a full house and held a campaign event that was unprecedented in my experience. Indeed, to call it “a campaign event” is to distort its message and purpose.

Well, I mean, it was an event held by a candidate during a political campaign, so anything a candidate does in public is part of the campaign, right?

But this one was fundamentally different. It wasn’t a rally. There were no applause lines, none of the delivery tricks designed to get people hootin’ and hollerin’. Janoo kept her tone conversational, as if her purpose was not to promote herself but to conduct an exchange of ideas.

One metric: The event began at 5:00 p.m. She didn’t mention her platform or policy ideas until 5:50. And throughout the event, she spent much more time interacting with the audience than promoting herself or attacking her opponent.

It was a full house at the Old Labor Hall, about 150 people by my estimate. (They’d originally set up 80-90 seats, but more chairs were rolled out as the crowd grew.) Not at all bad for a candidate who can’t afford to buy advertising and hasn’t gotten very much earned media coverage. There was plenty of enthusiasm, a buzz in the crowd if you will, and Janoo got a sustained standing ovation at the end of the night. It did underscore the notion that something is happening here, that the recent poll showing Janoo in the lead might reflect the developing reality of an expectation-shattering election.

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