A new poll shows none of the four leading Liberal leadership candidates will attract more support from Canadians than they will repel. For committed Liberals this leaves very few options.
It seems we can elect as Leader the candidate that will have the best chances at growing in popularity following a makeover that will happen only after he wins the Leadership. Who can be best reborn then? This should be the ballot box question, right? What would happen next?
Perhaps this scenario would give Liberals a moderate shot at winning the next election, given the polls today that show the Liberals are neck and neck with the Conservatives. Any boost to popularity of the party would be lost via the individual handicaps that hamper each of the Lib Four.
This option is OK, I suppose, though only mediocre to be perfectly honest. It is similar perhaps to the practice by some cultures, classes and our previous generations in accepting a spouse who one could likely grow to love.
It is too bad this our only option :(
Wait! I just thought of something, though it was a bit of a mind twister:
What if the other candidates and their delegates, including those in the Lib Four who cannot grow, would rally around someone else? Someone not in the top four?
Is this completely out of the question? If so, why?
This would mean disgruntled Iggy delegates going to the candidate they like rather than the three they don't like. This could also mean frontrunners 3 and 4 humbly making the collectively interested Liberal choice to throw their support behind someone else. Someone who did not match their political organisation, but someone who could this time around better capture the hearts and minds of Canadians and win the next election as a majority for the Liberals.
Think about it... who can win the entire country for the Liberal party, who has run a clean campaign and who has the most growth potential at convention?
Is this just a temporary pipe dream? Or, is it a dream the well positioned frontrunners had ruled out after super weekend, but need to now consider?
Unfortunately, nothing much has happened for any of the the Lib Four that is particularly good or motivating, especially since then. At the same time, at least one has made mistake after mistake and is "bleeding" delegates.
Is this a game only for frontrunners? Or, are others allowed to play? Are others allowed to play and to win? Or not? You tell me. Is anything possible? Anything is possible...
5 comments:
Me thinks you read too much into that poll. There is plenty or room for growth if you see that the 'no impact on vote' were a majority of Liberals already. It takes about 41% to get a majority -- less if you can persuade most Quebec ridings to support the party -- so the numbers, which don't relate to an actual election where parties put their platform before the electorate, media wriggles and spins, the leaders take their best shots and tumble up and down etc, are really inconsequential.
If you believe dryden is the real answer, i'm afraid that it would take a massive tidal wave of calamity and greatness on his part to overtake the convention. I do believe he belongs in the final 4 (if his french was up to par, i'm certain he'd be a solid 5th) but your dream scenario is just that, a dream. I will support the eventual winner and believe that an election win is possible -- however, I am concerned that, should either Rae or Iggy win, some people will spend the next 1-2 years eagerly awaiting a new leadership race. AND those people won't be Dion nor Kennedy.
I think Rae should withdraw and put his support behind Volpe!
Only Volpe can reach out to new Canadians, and non traditional liberals.
heh
Kyle g. olsen. I appreciate your jestful tone, yet remember that if 5 and/or 6 and/or 7 canadates and/or delegates came together (and pehaps some ex-officios or not), this group would be #2 in percentage to a frontrunner who is bleeding delegates and who arguably can't grow.
If Liberals were to get creative and consider other possibilities, the gap is not large at all and anything would be possible at convention floor.
Sorry to say your realism is shortshighted, Burlivespipe. It wouldn't take a tidal wave at convention for this to be possible, just a general sense and mood that Liberals might be electing the wrong candidate.
This woulf be a good opportunity for people to see the true calibur in candidates like Hall Findlay and Volpe. We would be persuaded by the media to think of Volpe as scandalous swine, but I think most people with half a pea brain would have figured the whole scheme out by now. Volpe was on his way to a top four showing before super week-end, having signed up 30,000 new liberals, and having been the only candidate who hadn't borrowed money or taken out loans. He had the support, he is a senior politician, an experienced one, and a well respected one. They fucked him, and now the country is saying "hmmm, maybe we don't really care for Kennedy or Iggy, or Rae, or Dion. I'll say this: being a country largely made up of diverse ethnic peoples, it'd be hard to imagine Volpe not doing well.Insiders would tell you that Harper has been quoted as saying that he'd hate for Volpe to win Leadership. That can only mean one thing. As for Hall Findley, she is as honest as they come. A bit of a push over, but well intentioned and intelligent. I'd elect her next time without hesitation.
MH-F will drop off on the 1st ballot as per the leadership rules.
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