Wab Kinew's entry into Manitoba politics seen as boon to NDP

Agree with the sentiments expressed here. Twitter is a medium that encourages ill-thought comments in the sense that something that could fly as a witty or ironic comment in person can be easily taken litterally or out of context on twitter.

I've met Wab a number of times over the years, even had him in our home a couple of times, and I have never gotten an asshole, mysogynist vibe off him. And I have a very accurate bullshit radar. He may be less than humble - I give you that - but often those who strive hard and excell are like that.

My theory is that after Selinger fended off the challenge to his leadership, that the Gang of 5 was essentially forced into not running again. With the polls going where they were, everyone minus Swan was considered to be in marginal seats, so the party then goes and tells these MLAs that the party will not expend its limited resources on their re-election campaigns. The MLAs can read the writing on the wall, so they realize they have no choice. Only Swan runs again, but he's safe enough that he can win the seat on his own.

How does this apply to Fort Rouge? This is where Bokhari was going to run. It has a strong Liberal history, and is one of the few ridings where people can vote Liberal without fear of the PCs being elected. My sense is that the NDP took this into account and was essentially prepared to concede to Bokhari. Then, Wab Kinew steps into the race. So my question to those who were closest to the scene and actually in this constituency is did the NDP come out for Kinew really hard, or was Kinew able to pull this off with his own campaign team? Was the NDP seriously expecting to win this one?

Either way, good to have him around.