Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Liberal Leadership Race at my house

There are three of us in this house that can vote on Saturday in the Liberal leadership race.  Given the low number of Liberal members in Victoria Swan Lake, we are worth about 2.4 points out of the 8500 total points in the race.

I have made up my mind and not much has changed for me through the whole race.   I believe that George Abbott is the best choice for the Liberals and BC as a whole.   In fact I think he is the best choice for the NDP as well because he is most likely to improve the political discourse in BC and thereby allow the NDP to be a better opposition and I assume eventually government.  But I am only one voter in this household.

Myself, Ben, Daniel and Mike de Jong in December
Daniel has not told me yet where he is at with his voting intentions.   He has been busy with school, was away on a weekend camping trip in Manning Park and has been sick this week.   I suspect he is leaning towards Mike de Jong, but I suspect that has a lot to do with lowering the voting age and having met him person twice.

Sheila may not vote.  She is getting annoyed at all the phone calls the house is getting and is basically just short of telling them all to piss off.   She has not paid much attention to the race, I gave her my run down of the candidates which I admit is biased and I told her she should get other information.   My sense is that Mike de Jong and Kevin Falcon are out for her.   The naked ambition of Kevin Falcon does not sit well with her.

Sheila is not a political person, she voted for the first time in 2005, being married to me is a crash course in politics.   She does have a family connection to George Abbott, he went to school with her uncle in Sicamous.   Her grandmother talked about "Georgie" to Sheila after he was elected MLA in 1996.  I have no idea if that is going to have an impact on her decision.

So for the 2.4 or so points available from this house, Abbott is secure in at least 0.8 and possibly as much as 2.4,   Mike de Jong could get 0.8 points and Clark might get 0.8 as well.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Bernard, I introduced myself at the NTL meeting recently. Thanks so much for the excellent coverage of the party elections. It is great to hear of both your sons' interest in politics. You and Public Eye Online yield excellent insights into BC politics. This former Alaskan really enjoys reading the election coverage.

If I could vote and were voting NDP I'd have to go for John Horgan. He's impressive as a speaker.

On the BC Liberal's I met Christy Clark one time - she made me think I was the only person in the room. I also have met Kevin Falcon, impressive.

I know of many folks in Northwest BC who think well of George Abbott and Kevin Falcon. Not sure which candidate is favored in the NDP in Northwest - I've not spoken to friends who are NDP members recently.

Your coverage helps humanize these people of different political persuasions.

I wish the political discourse of my country would tone it down a bit - it's way too shrill in comparison to BC' and Canada's. The way it is now, I dislike either party in my country. A bit of a dilemma for someone who though he knew his politics fairly well. Best of luck BC!