THE BEST QUALIFICATION FOR HEADING THE GOVERNMENT IS HAVING GOVERNED:

Bernie Sanders should not run for president. In fact, we beg him not to.

That is an unfavorable opinion, especially among most Vermonters and progressives who support the platform that has come to define him. But at this point, there are more things about another Sanders run at the White House that concern us than excite us.

In this space, we have repeatedly hit the senator on where his loyalties lay: Vermont or a bigger calling? We have asked him to make a choice, which he would argue was his recent re-election to Congress. But in his previous run for the presidency, Sanders, an independent who ran for the White House as a Democrat, missed dozens of votes that likely would have helped Vermonters. And, while he handily defeated his challenger, can Vermonters point to Sanders' record and say definitively, "This is what he's done for us?"

Gov. Scott Walker leaves office next week, finishing his second term by posting a budget surplus for the eighth year in a row. Wisconsin ended last fiscal year with a $588.5 million surplus and will start 2018-2019 with the second-highest opening balance since 2000.

"We are leaving Wisconsin in the best financial condition in a generation," Walker announced. "This is part of our legacy and it will continue to drive Wisconsin forward."

Walker, who had not previously discussed publicly what he planned to do after leaving office, said Tuesday he would join a speaking tour across the country and "focus on new methods to articulate a conservative message."

Walker's legacy includes cutting Wisconsin residents' taxes by $8 billion and reducing the collective bargaining rights of government workers.

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