The senior woman in the Vermont Senate apparently has dropped out of the race to become its leader. Senator Susan Bartlett of Lamoille County has told her colleagues that she’s no longer running for president pro tempore.
Senator Dick Sears of Bennington County has decided to get into the race. Already, Senator Peter Welch of Windsor County is trying to line up support. Welch held the post in the late 1980s and returned to the Senate last year.