My imagination of the Scene...
Seeing as I cannot locate any good blog posts about the initial Wildrose Alliance Leadership debate that was held in Grand Prairie last night, I had to rely on some old fashioned MSM reports. The picture provided by the newspaper shows the three candidates ( ironically in their predicted order of finish) but no shots of the crowd, thus my imagined interpretation above! I see that the Wildrose continues to set the province on fire....this time they managed to get over 30 supporters out to this crucial debate. 30... Hmmmm....
Maybe I am being to harsh? 30 is a good number is it not? Considering the article quotes the northern director of the party as stating that membership has QUADRUPLED this year and that the "turnout in Grande Prairie is proof that the tide is turning on the current government." I am not sure I would be bragging that 30 people attended this event. 30 people attending a candidates debate ( and most were likely members) does not show the tide turning on anything. However it does highlight many of the the deep logistical problems that this protest/fringe party has, but refuses to acknowledge.
I will be watching for the spin on how the WAP was able to get 30 people to attend a leadership debate in a city that is likely hit hard by the Oil/Gas industry. 30 people.
Perhaps the tiny WAP Flame is starting to fizzle out?
Now thats a witty post. You must have known I would jump on this one. Do you think the numbers are accurate? Once there was a Calgary-Glenmore PC event that had reported by MSM 12-14 attendees, the blog numbers provided well exceeded this.LOL How may showed up to give Ed his hug in Calgary-Glenmore? Exactly, there is a fire fizzling out when having the premier can only draw the MLA's and few members from around the city.
ReplyDeleteHey Alt...yep, I knew you would like this...lol. As for the PC events, there are now public pics on FB etc that show the excellent attendance of these events. You are correct in never assuming the MSM's #'s though.
ReplyDeleteSomeone who attended says 43: http://twitter.com/CyrilDCook. And really, is the debate a big decider for members? Those who bought a membership through one of the leadership campaigns already know how they are going to vote, so I don't see attendance at the debate as a large predictor of party popularity.
ReplyDeleteI love the tumbleweed pic, that's great.
ReplyDeleteIf I get some pics from Todd (northern director) I will post them. I am not overly concerned about turnout. I am hoping it is mostly undecided members to show up.
I see our membership numbers regularily and they are only going one direction; and it is not down.
I will be attending the 3 southern ones (RD, Calgary & Lethbridge) and hope to cover them.
Awesome. The PCs get better turnout at their monthly constituency meetings, and neither Wayne Drysdale nor Mel Knight are as "purty" as Danielle. This post made me laugh out loud, as did AA and Jane's attempts to spin it. Reminds me of her lame-ass attempt to convince us that Dycap Research wasn't two dorks in a basement with and Apple IIe.
ReplyDeleteI heard they were having a commemorative re-run of "Golden Girls" on TV that night. So not a fair comparison for attendance, as the show took a big section of the target market.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed there was 43 people, and I did not count everyone. Splitting hairs over 30, or 43, What's important is I can recognize that the party is growing.I have attended a few WAP events here over the last few years and recognize a few faces and there definitely were some new faces and largest attended event ever. The party is definitely growing here. Todd is doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteThe loudest applause from the audience came when Mark said we need to replace our 2 MLA's.
Cyril
Undecided voters don't attend debates.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I love the way you view Grande Prairie. Tumbleweed in all. Perhaps you have never left Calgary to see our wonderful city. We even have running water....from the taps.
ReplyDeleteCyril
I noticed a tweet that talked about how "we'd be surprised by some of the names that are supporting the (Wildrose Alliance party."
ReplyDeleteI've got two words for you - Jim Dinning.
It's not about "high profile" people buying a membership! It's about who sells the most memberships and who gets their people out to vote. Period.
Cyril,thanks for confirming the #. The tumbleweed picture is not meant to represent Grand Prairie my friend, it is a joke about nobody being at the event. ( Think of the old westerns were everyone scatters.) Good luck to you and your organization, I like your passion, but some of your candidates are just not to my liking.
ReplyDeleteNo worries. I took it as a joke. Just keeping you honest.
ReplyDeleteCyril
@Alberta Altruist the Calgary-Glenmore rally with the Premier had over 200 people in attendance
ReplyDeleteThere was one count for the meeting at 50, including everyone. And yes, there was media there covering the event both in print and radio. It did receive a lot of radio news coverage on the next day and had newspaper articles before and after the event. There were many new faces, including many non-members. As there were many non-members, there were many new memberships sold at the meeting. As the Grande Prairie constituencies are farming areas, it was probably not the best season for a meeting. One attendee noted the wide demographics of those that attended. What I find is that the attendees of our meetings are unhappy with the current government and are looking for change.It seems natural for them to choose the Wildrose Alliance when they learn about the policies of the party. It seems the attendees of PC party functions are made up of: people who are trying to "rub shoulders" with the "powers to be" to gain some sort of financial advantage, councillors from towns,cities, and MD's to show support for their elected rep so that they can gain some sort of advantage, or at least stave off some sort of disadvantage, and of course there are those that are there to just purely support their political party. Obviously of the three groups I mentioned, we can only hope to attract 1/3 of them, the people who are there to support the party, and of course the people who want to learn more. We are, as I mentioned, atracting new people all the time, and our membership sales prove this. We do need to remember that this party is 20 months old. The cynics can say what they want about the party, but they would have to admit that there is no other party at this time that has more potential to change Alberta politics than the Wildrose Alliance. I do appreciate the humor in the photos and comments, but the flame is far from fizzling.
ReplyDeleteTodd Loewen
Hey I just sold 4 memberships in Grande Prairie today for the Wildrose Alliance party. So it is growing. Their new leader Danielle Smith shows great promise and certainly looks a hell a lot better than Ed. With Stelmach's government there is no future. Lets all join this new party and hope for the best.
ReplyDelete