Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Big Story: Taft Shits Bed
Observations from the debate:
1. Klein came out a winner because he exceeded expectations, where "exceeded expectations" is code for "did not take off his pants and dance the funky chicken on his podium".
2. Mason came out a winner because he established himself as being more effective than Taft at opposing Klein (never mind this business of "advancing an alternative vision" - both parties are so far from power that I see little reason that either needs one) and because he didn't call handicapped people "heroes".
3. Taft was terrible. Really really terrible. Besides the usual "no vision no plan" refrain, he didn't get any meaningful shots in at Klein, and most of his attempts (surrounding the BSE aid program, for example) were readily brushed aside by Klein. It didn't help that Taft himself appeared not to have any particular plan himself, with regards to the Heritage Trust Fund, for example.
4. I think most people will probably recognize how ludicrous it is that Klein summed the costs of the Liberal and ND campaign promises (and did so incorrectly at that, since a lot of Liberal promises are tied to the size of the surplus - why didn't Taft make that point?). However, Klein *was* successful at portraying both of the opposition parties as big spenders. It remains to be seen how much that will hurt them.
5. What's with Brian Mason's right eyebrow?
6. The exchange between Klein and Mason on flying down to Vulcan was hilarious.
7. Actually, a lot of Klein's performance was hilarious.
8. It boggles the mind, but I think Klein pulled off that "folksy" thing again. How a guy that arrogant (and please note that I do not find arrogance in a politician to be an objectionable trait, generally, and that I do find folksiness to be such a trait), who spends much of the debate talking over the moderator, could still be construed as "folksy" is beyond me. Maybe if Lynda Steele had a beer gut and a John Deere hat. . .
9. Tory campaign worker I know: "I sometimes wonder if Ralph is *trying* to make our lives difficult."
10. ND campaign worker I know: "Our designer thinks we're exaggerating Brian's twitch."
Me: "Nope. I noticed it, and I'm the least observant man alive. A candidate could probably show up pantsless and I'd miss it, but I noticed the twitch."
11. On balance, Klein did a lot to prevent the Alliance from winning any seats, Mason bettered his party's chances of winning at least one additional (either Larry Booi's, Ray Martin's, and/or David Eggan's), and Taft pretty well put the final nail in the coffin of the Liberals' chances at more than the seven seats they won last time. Even that will be a stretch, actually, since they have no chance of holding on to Ken Nicol's seat, and they have only an outside chance at picking up a seat - either Emonton-Castle Downs or Edmonton-Manning - to replace it. This also assumes that the Liberals can win back the seats vacated by Don Massey, Debby Carlson, and Bill Bonner, which is far from assured.
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Observations from the debate:
1. Klein came out a winner because he exceeded expectations, where "exceeded expectations" is code for "did not take off his pants and dance the funky chicken on his podium".
2. Mason came out a winner because he established himself as being more effective than Taft at opposing Klein (never mind this business of "advancing an alternative vision" - both parties are so far from power that I see little reason that either needs one) and because he didn't call handicapped people "heroes".
3. Taft was terrible. Really really terrible. Besides the usual "no vision no plan" refrain, he didn't get any meaningful shots in at Klein, and most of his attempts (surrounding the BSE aid program, for example) were readily brushed aside by Klein. It didn't help that Taft himself appeared not to have any particular plan himself, with regards to the Heritage Trust Fund, for example.
4. I think most people will probably recognize how ludicrous it is that Klein summed the costs of the Liberal and ND campaign promises (and did so incorrectly at that, since a lot of Liberal promises are tied to the size of the surplus - why didn't Taft make that point?). However, Klein *was* successful at portraying both of the opposition parties as big spenders. It remains to be seen how much that will hurt them.
5. What's with Brian Mason's right eyebrow?
6. The exchange between Klein and Mason on flying down to Vulcan was hilarious.
7. Actually, a lot of Klein's performance was hilarious.
8. It boggles the mind, but I think Klein pulled off that "folksy" thing again. How a guy that arrogant (and please note that I do not find arrogance in a politician to be an objectionable trait, generally, and that I do find folksiness to be such a trait), who spends much of the debate talking over the moderator, could still be construed as "folksy" is beyond me. Maybe if Lynda Steele had a beer gut and a John Deere hat. . .
9. Tory campaign worker I know: "I sometimes wonder if Ralph is *trying* to make our lives difficult."
10. ND campaign worker I know: "Our designer thinks we're exaggerating Brian's twitch."
Me: "Nope. I noticed it, and I'm the least observant man alive. A candidate could probably show up pantsless and I'd miss it, but I noticed the twitch."
11. On balance, Klein did a lot to prevent the Alliance from winning any seats, Mason bettered his party's chances of winning at least one additional (either Larry Booi's, Ray Martin's, and/or David Eggan's), and Taft pretty well put the final nail in the coffin of the Liberals' chances at more than the seven seats they won last time. Even that will be a stretch, actually, since they have no chance of holding on to Ken Nicol's seat, and they have only an outside chance at picking up a seat - either Emonton-Castle Downs or Edmonton-Manning - to replace it. This also assumes that the Liberals can win back the seats vacated by Don Massey, Debby Carlson, and Bill Bonner, which is far from assured.
