Quote:
Originally Posted by Dion
The Wildrose peaked too soon.
|
Not really. People just set unrealistic expectations.
The Calgary-Glenmore byelection and Wildrose's leadership convention came at a time when dissent over Stelmach was peaking. It was a perfect storm that allowed them to rapidly grow from a fringe party in the last election to enjoy a brief period where they led the Tories in the polls. But while the Wildrose got the leadership convention bump then, it was inevitable that the PCs would get the same at their convention.
For this election, I suspect most people who pay even moderate attention would have expected that opposition party was the realistic expectation for the Wildrose. And they are polling in a position where that is realistic. The party is polling at 3-5x what their share of the 2008 vote was. If they can hold that, or even improve into this election, then they will establish themselves as a legitimate political force, as opposed to that half-wonderment on whether they were just a protest.