Sara Gear Boyd has passed away from cancer. The former legislator had been the national committeewoman for the past 16 years. She had split her time between Vermont and Arizona. Yet every summer she was active on the campaign trail according to some GOP sources we spoke too.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean: Getty Images PhotoFormer Vermont Gov. Howard Dean will be staying on as chairman of the national Democratic Party. His 50-state grassroots organization plan is paying off and seems to have a believer in U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who last week secured enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Now Obama has decided to keep Dean on through at least Election Day in November, and, perhaps, beyond.

Kristina Althoff, fresh off traveling the country with the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), has been named interim executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party. The announcement comes as Jill Krowinski moves to manage former state House Speaker Gaye Symington's gubernatorial campaign.

It is unclear if this is a long-term move. Althoff worked last cycle with the Vermont Democratic House campaign.  

It looks as Tayt Brooks is to become the new executive director of the Vermont Republican Party. Tayt, a long-time activist and lobbyist, will replace Alden Guptil.

Guptil has joined his former boss Jim Barnett on the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). We will watch what responsibilities Tayt will carry.

It's a big week in Vermont politics. Who's coming out on top? Who's not? Find out in this week's Winners & Losers.

Progressive Party gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina held a rally on Thursday, yet led most observers to believe that he was going to announce his challenge to Brian Dubie for lieutenant governor. Speculation on the morning news was that Pollina would bow out of the race for governor, giving former House Speaker Gaye Symington, a Democrat, a clear shot to unseat Republican Gov. Jim Douglas this fall. And the Progressives and Democrats would be again lining up their interests for the greater good.

But it was not to be ... Pollina announced to Vermont he was staying put and going to act the spoiler.

Democrats are likely watching their chances to take the governorship slip away.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean: Getty Images PhotoAfter Democrats prepare to choose their presidential nominee at the party's national convention in Denver in August, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the party's chairman, will likely be replaced with someone from the camp of the presumptive presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). 

This is natural and has very little to do with Dean's performance over his tenure at the DNC. While the national Democratic leadership had to muzzle him, to his credit he went along and kept a low profile by staying off all the national talk shows and instead focused on the core mission of growing the grassroots and fundraising machines of the party.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy: Getty Images PhotoWCAX-TV/Channel 3 out of Burlington is reporting a conversation with Vermont's senior U.S. senator, Patrick Leahy (D-Middlesex). Several weeks ago, we reported on the possibility that Leahy, who currently chairs the Judiciary Committee, could rise to the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, currently chaired by U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, the aging West Virginia Democrat.

Tuesday night watching the primary returns from Kentucky and Oregon, I flipped from cable channel to cable channel. Then I reached Fox News. The crawl showed the results with exit poll info on the side.

Then I noticed that both Democratic candidates were labeled by their initials in contrast to McCain who they just used "Mac."

This week, we learned more about rumored shifts in the leadership of the most influential agencies in state government. We learned that Neale Lunderville will be moving from secretary of transportation to secretary of administration. There he will be responsible for passing the Gov. Jim Douglas' budget.

Lunderville cut his teeth on the campaign trail running the Governor's campaigns. But he has ably run the department of transportation. With the scare of the bridge collapsing in Minnesota last year, Lunderville proactively reached out to the press and handled the department's management of the issue extremely well.