[Minnie]

Not surprising, I'm sure, but Smith lost the nomination for Highwood.

Former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, once the darling of Alberta’s political right who nearly toppled the PC dynasty three years ago, lost the PC nomination race in her riding of Highwood on Saturday.

Smith, who along with eight other Wildrose MLAs, defected to the PC party in stunning fashion late last year, lost her bid to carry the Tory blue and orange banner in the general election to Carrie Fischer, a rookie councillor for the town of Okotoks.

Party officials said 972 ballots were cast in the closely watched race, but refused to divulge the final tally for each candidate.

The ex-Wildrose leader delivered a brief concession speech in which she congratulated Fischer, thanked PC members for participating in the vote as well as her staff and family for helping with her campaign.

“I did want to get a mandate to be the PC candidate for Highwood, but of course residents felt otherwise,” Smith said.

She expressed no regrets crossing the floor last year, and reiterated her support for Premier Jim Prentice saying he is the only political leader with a credible long-term plan.

“It’s important for conservatives to unify under his leadership,” she said. “We have $50 oil, a $7 billion hole in the budget and I think that Mr. Prentice with his budget came through with the right balance of spending austerity as well as revenue increases and dipping into the contingency fund.”

Smith said she would support Fischer’s campaign, but would take time to discuss her next move with her husband.

As news spread through the room that Smith had lost, there were scattered whoops and high fives followed by a loud cheer by those in attendance.

“The chickens have come home to roost. Karma,” said Wildrose president Jeff Callaway, adding Smith’s loss was “the cherry on top” of electing a new leader.

Callaway said Prentice will have to wear Smith’s loss, a point echoed by the new Wildrose leader.

“This is a good lesson for the premier,” Jean said. “Now he’s seen that trying to destroy democracy doesn’t work. It does not work at all for him because the people have spoken and they’ve clearly decided that Danielle Smith and what she did is not what they want to represent them.”

Wayne Anderson, who has been nominated to run for Wildrose in Highwood, said he had looked forward to taking on Smith in the election.

“I think the local PC party itself could not accept Danielle as their nominee,” he said.

Saturday’s stunning defeat almost certainly spells the end of Smith’s political career, said Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University.

“As a politician, I can’t see anyone wanting to touch her,” Williams said. “She’s got too many negative associations … her glory days are definitely behind her.”

Williams said many PC supporters likely didn’t view Smith as trustworthy and thought she could be a liability in the next provincial election.

“Winning the nomination is not the primary fight here,” said Williams. “The biggest question was who has the best chance of winning in the next election.”

“Danielle Smith was so polarizing at this stage of the game that the motivation for people to get out and vote for PC would not be as strong as the motivation to come out and vote against Smith,” she added.