NDP Leadership 26

MP Pierre Dionne Labelle today announced he is backing Romeo Saganash in the NDP Leadership campaign

http://www.journallenord.com/Actualites/Politique/2011-10-20/article-2782203/COURSE-A-LA-CHEFFERIE-DU-NPD/1#.TqBrcKzXgjw.facebook

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pierre.dionne.labelle.npd/posts/190087387736449

I'm rather torn about this leadership race.  I thought I would check in with babble.  But you know what -you folks have been no help at all    in helping me decide.

There are still things I like about the main and potential candidates.  And on top of that there are people who I really respect a great deal who are moving to support different candidates.  Very confusing.  I guess in one way it is a good problem to have because it speaks to the depth of talent in our federal caucus and in party leadership.  With so many potentially great leaders, but with different strengths, coming forward you can see that the house that Jack built is on a very firm foundation.

Idealistic Pragmatist wrote:

I wouldn't worry about not having decided yet, though. I know I for one am nowhere near deciding, and I'm okay with that. I actually feel like I won't be able to decide until I've met each of them and had a chance to ask them questions, and seen them all in action in forums and events. I hope I get a chance to do that with the ones I haven't had that chance for yet.

I actually think there is value in not meeting them. I'd like to try to assess them as most voters will, through the eyes of the media, on-line and perhaps in the House of Commons.  It's fine for a candidate to be a real charmer one-on-one, but no leader can meet 30 million Canadians.

Having said that, it was interesting to watch the candidates work the room at last weekend's Leader's Levee in Edmonton.  I was surprised at the lack of skill some of the candidates showed in old fashioned flesh-pressing.

I can tell you that in the two hours I was at the event, I introduced myself to Singh (we have friends in common) and was introduced to Cullen by his campaign manager (who lives in Edmonton).

I did not meet Dewar, Topp or Saganish who were all present.  Topp in particular looked bad at working the room.  He stood akwardly in one spot and waited for people to come to him (many did).  A real pro moves around and talks to everyone, introducing themselves if necessary, or at least having a staff person do the introductions for them. 

In fairness, I believe Dewar did do some of this.  Nicole Turmel was there and also seemed to understand the concept.

Hey BA -nice to see you around these parts.  You did a great job by the way.

Lou Arab wrote:

I can tell you that in the two hours I was at the event, I introduced myself to Singh (we have friends in common) and was introduced to Cullen by his campaign manager (who lives in Edmonton).

I did not meet Dewar, Topp or Saganish who were all present.  Topp in particular looked bad at working the room.  He stood akwardly in one spot and waited for people to come to him (many did).  A real pro moves around and talks to everyone, introducing themselves if necessary, or at least having a staff person do the introductions for them. 

In fairness, I believe Dewar did do some of this.  Nicole Turmel was there and also seemed to understand the concept.

I've wondered about Topp the retail politician.  That's an art and I haven't seen much evidence of it really.  It is those one on one and small group meetings that are the bread and butter of an elected politician.  You learn that by being 'at work' in the room, as opposed to 'working' the room.  Herein lies Topp's biggest problem I think.

Life, the universe, everything wrote:

I've wondered about Topp the retail politician.  That's an art and I haven't seen much evidence of it really.  It is those one on one and small group meetings that are the bread and butter of an elected politician.  You learn that by being 'at work' in the room, as opposed to 'working' the room.  Herein lies Topp's biggest problem I think.

Eh, I'd argue that it's more of a skill than an art. And it's where Topp not having run for office before matters most, because most of the others have of course already had a chance to build up those skills.

I'm sure he's well aware that this is not one of his strong points, though, and will spend a lot of time over the next months (and beyond, if he wins) working on it.

Howard wrote:

From an optics perspective, I think the big to do today about Judy WL endorsing Topp was a bit risky, because of the narrative of the NDP establishment that it might project.

Judy WL should have won the Winnipeg mayoralty race, just like Dewar endorser Kevin Chief should have won his byelection, but the voters took it out on both because they wanted to punish the NDP establishment and both candidates ran very orthodox campaigns.

I think that Rebecca Blaikie's loss in Winnipeg North is related as well, as people saw her as "Bill Blaikie's daughter riding her father's coat tails" as opposed to "Rebecca Blaikie." She received about 65% of the vote that Judy did, which tells me that Judy had a personal appeal that the NDP has not been able to tap into, since I don't believe the riding's population declined that much from when Judy last ran in 2008.

Peggy Nash is in, announcing soon.

I was skeptical, guessed she wasnt going for it.

northwestern_lad wrote:

MP Pierre Dionne Labelle today announced he is backing Romeo Saganash in the NDP Leadership campaign

 

http://www.journallenord.com/Actualites/Politique/2011-10-20/article-2782203/COURSE-A-LA-CHEFFERIE-DU-NPD/1#.TqBrcKzXgjw.facebook

 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pierre.dionne.labelle.npd/posts/190087387736449

 

Translating in part:

"We must bring now, and for future generations, economic development, social justice and the protection of the environment, before it's too late. No one has witnessed more than Romeo the negative impact of global warming on ecosystems and the peoples of the boreal forest and the far north. Equally compelling are his calls to establish equitable global economic rules for better distribution of wealth between everyone to end poverty and social exclusion."

Glad to see this.

I like the slow and steady style and substance of the Saganash campaign.

Peggy Nash running doesnt change everything.

There has been no settling in to totally change.

It is still early days.

Really, most of us still know very little about any of them.

I'm only not likely to be open to a couple of them. The rest- I'm waiting for them to show me who they are, what kind of leader, what vision, ALL the basics.

I just re-watched the video of Dewar's Winnipeg town hall in light of the comments about all the candidates being bad at working the room in Edmonton. Maybe the shots they did get in Winnipeg were unrepresentative, but it looked to me like Dewar was connecting with people there and vice versa. He's pretty darn good at it here in O-town.

Was there something about the Edmonton event itself that might have left the leadership candidates feeling they should hold back in some way?

Oh well, hopefully all their people are reading this and giving them the feedback. It seems like very honest and constructive advice to get this early on in the campaign. Of course Jack set the standard pretty high in that regard, but there's no reason not to try and reach.

Thanks for the endorsements rundown, Lou.  I think it is at least worth noting that three of the five candidates with no endorsements apart from themselves have not yet announced.  I frankly expect that those three candidats will all have some MP endorsers to unveil at their respective launches.

I'll observe that it now appears I was wrong about Peggy Nash and that she likely will be running.  She would have the best positioning to make a dent in the House of Labour, but I expect the bulk of the labour leadership will end up solidly behind Topp.  That said, in pure OMOV and with a ban on institutional donations, labour grandee support means less today than it ever has.  Labour leaders won't be able to direct block votes and they won't be able to direct resources to preferred candidate.

ottawaobserver wrote:

Was there something about the Edmonton event itself that might have left the leadership candidates feeling they should hold back in some way?

Quite the opposite. It was a reception. A hotel ballroom, not many chairs, finger food and drinks.  Nothing to do but chit chat with people.

I think this announcement by Topp on raising taxes is huge.

Other things Brian Topp has said can be viewed as positioning himself on the left for the leadership race. But who knows what he would do as Leader.

Here is another quote, as well as the ones linked above a couple posts.

Quote:

The perceived frontrunner in the NDP leadership race wants his party to make higher income taxes for high-income earners a key plank in its next election campaign platform.
He told The Canadian Press he intends to unveil a detailed proposal in the weeks to come.
"I will be talking about income taxes and I think it's time for our party to step up to that plate and to be pretty clear about that because then we'll have a mandate to act if we're elected," Topp said in a wide-ranging interview.

Topp calls for higher income taxes on wealthy Canadians

Wide-ranging interview it certainly was. And a vote of confidence in the reporter Joan Bryden that she was the most likely to pass on what he actually said... despite the number of hot topics, and therefore opportunities for a reporter to pursue their own agendas in 'reporting'.

Anyway, taxing the wealthy.

Of all people, Brian Topp knows 100% that the media, let alone the opponents, will NEVER forget this should he become Leader.... even if he never mentioned it again [which he will in spades]. Should he be Leader, he has as much as commited the party as well as himself to this as a campaign and election plank.

Because now it is in for a penny, in for a pound.

I am also very good to see explicit featuring of having a mandate- a mandate to do something substantial.

This is especially a relief to those of us in Nova Scotia who know all too well that years before becoming government the Dexter NSNDP made the explicit decision to NOT have that kind of mandate so that you could fly in under the radar into power.

That was never publicly stated- not explicitly even in open internal discussions [the kind like at provincial Council that media can pick up]. But there was a pretty big scope of participants who heard it explicitly and repeatedly stated in many ways. So it was with some reservations to see Jack Layton and team incorporating the 'NSNDP lesson'. I knew that did not mean necessarily affirming the whole lesson, and there was evidence they did not. But the fondness for uncontroversial 'boutique policies' like ATM fees was not re-assuring on that score.

"Boutique policies" are good and necessary for building credibility and increasing the range of people who listen to you and seriously consider shifting allegiances. But I frankly never could tell whether there was going to be more from Jack Layton.

Apparently there will be if Brian Topp is leader. This raises the bar for the leadership race, and I'm very glad for it.

dacckon wrote:

Topp calls for higher income taxes on wealthy Canadians

excerpt from that article:

Topp's frank views on taxes risk giving ammunition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tories, who delight in casting the NDP as wild-eyed socialists who would break the national treasury and ruin the economy.

That's quite hilarious, given that Harper is currently breaking the bank and forcing Canadians into a 30 - year mortgage with his military spending.

I can hear the wheels turning....

A policy announcement by Brian Topp- ideas- is different than the showboating of stealing the thunder from an opponents announcemt by doing your own.

BTW, the Topp interview with Canadian Press had all the hallmarks of being a kind of editorial board meeting. We will probably see others in the coming weeks.

An editorial baord for a newspaper is several reporters who get together for deeper interviews. Typically it will be the political reporters, columnists and editorail page editor, other people who do 'think pieces' like the editor or senior reporter from the business section, etc.

Even  witha smaller paper like the Halifax Herald that is going to be at least 4-5 people. I dont know how many the Star or Globe would field. The board talks briefly before about questions they want to ask and general directions to take, and the interviewee knows she can come with an agenda of issues to touch on. It is the only opportunity where yo KNOW you will get a chance to take the course of the interview where you would like to go. [Conversely, you know that if you dodge a question, you are much less likely to have the reporter(s) let you get away without follow-up to pin you down.]

Howard wrote:

It's early days still. The schmoozing will come out eventually. It will be an important test of Mulcair, for instance, who has to combat the image of being prickly or aloof. He is certainly good on TV. Will it translate as easily to a packed room, now that he is allowed to schmooze without the media writing breathless articles about how he was out lining up support to overthrow Jack Layton?

Well, he was schmoozing the NDYA (and *ahem* a few crashers of a more advanced age) in an Edmonton bar last night with great aplomb.  And during an Oilers game at that. I won't say that I don't have a few misgivings about him on other fronts, but I can certainly compliment his skill with working a room.

Idealistic Pragmatist wrote:

And during an Oilers game at that.

Well, it was the Oilers vs. Minnesota - you can almost bet the mortgage on a dull, low scoring game.  Easy to distract people there.

KenS wrote:

Some people have pesonalities and ways of behaving that are hard wired for traditional schmoozing. Svend Robinson comes to mind as the champ in my mind. Sounds like maybe Dewar is like that.

Some have other ways of 'connecting with a room'. There probably are some of the contnders that arent doing it all at this stage [no more than any of us could do with no experience]. But when they do hit their stride, they are not all going to be schmoozers.

I watched as shy Bill replace the out going Svend.  His staff and friends worked very hard with him to ensure he didn't just stand by himself at events.  He learnt pretty quick but I can remember his staff herding him towards people.  In the end his style in a room while very good was totally different than Svend's.  Very friendly but not nearly as outgoing.

Friends of mine told me the same thing about their experience at a Topp meet and greet in Vancouver.  Apparently he needs to improve that part of his game.

I know what you mean about Svend [and others].

By contrast, I doubt there is a soul that thought Alexa was elsewhere. Ditto for Megan Leslie.

I had the same feeling as was born out about Bill Siksay- anyone can learn to shmooze, at least adequately well.

ETA: And by the way, even fidgety distracted people can manage. A politician who shall go unamed- when he is with friends or otherwise comfortable is REAL fidgety and even shifty eyed. But he does listen, and none of his consituents ever see that fidgetty side.

Boom Boom wrote:

I find it's easier to shmooze after I've had a few drinks. In fact, the more - the merrier!

Indeed.

I'd vote Romeo Saganash for NDP leader! thats because hes an aboriginal (First Nation - Cree) all of us (Aboriginal peoples) would vote him if he would first aboriginal Prime minister ever!!!!

I surprisedly Jonathan Jourdain-Genest not support him! He support Tom Mulcair....

Jonathan is aboriginal - Innu (Montagnais).... how come?! =(