I’m not sure where Darren Allen got the quote, but he’s reporting that this is how Hillary Clinton’s press secretary, Jenifer Hanley, responded to the news that Martha Rainville’s campaign had stolen that energy policy language from her website…

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, in this case, it is not the first time a Republican has taken components of Senator Clinton’s energy speech and adopted it as their own. This is yet another clear example of why important policy ideas, such as real energy reform, will be best left to a Democratic Congress.

Nice.

And ouch, too.

The jarring symbolism, to the electorate, of Rainville’s plagiarism mini-scandal — after months and months of ducking the disclosure of a single original position — just can’t be blurred by the immediate firing of an underling, grandson of a Supreme Court Justice or not.

Eric Davis may disagree, but I’m not so sure this will be just a tiny rumple on Rainville’s Rotunda road. Not super dramatic in the end, to be sure, but it deepens the already growing sense that behind the self-effacing, pleasant exterior, Martha Rainville is simply self-effacing and pleasant.

And Shay Totten’s Vermont Guardian story is a good read on the impact of blogs in this year’s election cycle.