Alberta Election writ drop today? April 2 Election Day ?

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

Like I say, I just don't care. Put a fixed date in, or don't.

Why do I get the impression that if the PCs had picked a date that the Wildrose would be upset that they picked the wrong one?

And why do I get the impression you are being contrary just for the sake of it...

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

And why do I get the impression you are being contrary just for the sake of it...

On the fixed dates I definitely am!

[GP_Matt]

I think fixed election dates will attract a higher caliber of candidate. I generally prefer short term politicians over the lifers. Candidates who have run a business, professionals, and community leaders all make great candidates. For a lot of people who are interested in running 28 days simply isn't enough notice to take a leave from your job and campaign. For myself, I plan well in advance for a vacation so that I can hand over clients smoothly without impacting any ongoing projects. I would leave my office in quite a bind if I was running and the election was called with no notice. Maybe today it will be called so I won't be in for four weeks. Maybe next week or any of the next 4 or previous 12 weeks. It is enough of a hassle to my coworkers and business that for a lot of potentially great leaders it simply isn't worth it.

[Slava]

Well if someone who owns a business wants to run, the harder part is that they have a four year, full time and (contrary to public opinion) a really demanding role! Campaigning for a mere 28 days isn't enough to win a competitive riding, so that would rule out a lot of people to begin with. I've worked on campaigns where we started about two years in advance. A little fluctuation with the election date isn't a big deal in that context. Both FL and I ran in the latest civic campaign (not against each other in any way) and we both started way ahead of the actual campaign period. It's just what you have to do to win. (we both lost!)

[Yeah_Baby]

Forget fixed election dates. Let's bring in Proportional Representation!

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Slava

Campaigning for a mere 28 days isn't enough to win a competitive riding, so that would rule out a lot of people to begin with. I've worked on campaigns where we started about two years in advance.

Should have ran as a PC, it would be much easier to win during the last 40 or so years

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Forget fixed election dates. Let's bring in Proportional Representation!

I'd rather put up with majorities that I don't like as opposed to constant bickering minorities. Only majority governments can make the tough decisions that are needed from time to time. If the Libs had a minority federally from 1993 - 2006 we would be hundreds of billions of dollars further in debt. The only way I would agree with proportional representation is if we dumped the whole Westminster model and removed confidence motions. Something like the US system where elections are set and the opposition, in a minority situation, can't constantly threaten a snap election. Of course the US system is a mess right now too.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Jacks

Should have ran as a PC, it would be much easier to win during the last 40 or so years

Well now that Cindy Ady is gone here the door is wide open! (although I'm not card carrying for anyone and kind of like that)

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well if someone who owns a business wants to run, the harder part is that they have a four year, full time and (contrary to public opinion) a really demanding role! Campaigning for a mere 28 days isn't enough to win a competitive riding, so that would rule out a lot of people to begin with. I've worked on campaigns where we started about two years in advance. A little fluctuation with the election date isn't a big deal in that context. Both FL and I ran in the latest civic campaign (not against each other in any way) and we both started way ahead of the actual campaign period. It's just what you have to do to win. (we both lost!)

Starting ahead makes sense, but what if you hear rumours that the election will be in the fall. Well maybe anyway, it depends on who wins the P.C. nomination race but most thought that Gary Mar would win and that he might just call an election shortly after to avoid having an unelected premier. So now getting ready to campaign several months in advance means that you are starting in July and the campaign might not be until May. Meanwhile your competitors are the ones making the decision so they have none of these worries, they simply hold the election when it is convenient for them.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

On the fixed dates I definitely am!

You set off my lurking husband..... "Peeling the bandaid off ever so slowly."

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by Slava

I actually don't know who I'll vote for yet. I just know that because of the situation in Alberta its true that electing enough opposition MLAs to suddenly form government would be very concerning. That applies to any of the parties, although at least the Liberals have a few MLAs who have been there for years. To me that has nothing to do with ideology either, it's just not my preference to have a bunch of inexperienced people running things.

Where's that "rolling eyes" emoticon? "Undecided" federal election deja vu...

Why do you bother with the charade? You're a partisan liberal that likes to pull out the ol' sit-on-the-fence card in order to fool people into thinking you've some sort of unbiased third-party viewpoint.

You have great comments and insight, but then do the whole "aw shucks, i just don't know who i'm going to vote for" routine. Puke.

I'll throw you a bone, however, that in this particular election you actually may have a decision facing you - the liberal PCs or the liberal Liberals.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by zuluking

Where's that "rolling eyes" emoticon? "Undecided" federal election deja vu...

Why do you bother with the charade? You're a partisan liberal that likes to pull out the ol' sit-on-the-fence card in order to fool people into thinking you've some sort of unbiased third-party viewpoint.

You have great comments and insight, but then do the whole "aw shucks, i just don't know who i'm going to vote for" routine. Puke.

I'll throw you a bone, however, that in this particular election you actually may have a decision facing you - the liberal PCs or the liberal Liberals.

I actually don't know who I'll vote for yet, its the honest truth! I do find it amusing that this bothers you so much though.

I have a dilemma provincially for a number of reasons. I'm not thrilled with the PCs and can see why we need a change. Letters like Hector Goudreaus indicate that fairly well, really. The NDP wants to shutdown the oil sands, so they're eliminated. The Liberals want to raise taxes, so that doesn't sit well with me either. The Wildrose is just too far right for me socially and a lot of their points just seem like a PC-redux.

I also have an issue in my riding where no one running seems to live there. I know I might be in the minority here, but that really bothers me. the one guy who I know does is the Alberta Party guy, so I guess I should give him credit for that. The PCs are probably parachuting a guy in from the NW who lost a nomination but worked on Redfords campaign. The Wildrose guy hasn't replied on twitter, which I basically assume means he doesn't live there. I don't know who the Liberals are running (hows that for being such a strong partisan?!) and like I said on twitter the NDP candidate could be from Mars and I still might not give them any attention.

In short, sorry my indecision on this is so troubling for you! I'll do my best to make a decision early after the writ is dropped and be sure to post that here though!

[GP_Matt]

Out of curiosity, are the Wildrose social policies that bother you real or perceived? I ask because I am a strong supporter of the WRA but definitely do not support traditional right wing social values that are more commonly associated with religious groups.

[Bobblehead]

I got a robo-call last night for "My PC candidate for Calgary NW".

The issue is I'm in Calgary-McCall.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Slava

How much are we talking about here?

Does it even matter? I also thought you would be for fixed election dates. Geez.

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by Slava

I actually don't know who I'll vote for yet, its the honest truth! I do find it amusing that this bothers you so much though.

I have a dilemma provincially for a number of reasons. I'm not thrilled with the PCs and can see why we need a change. Letters like Hector Goudreaus indicate that fairly well, really. The NDP wants to shutdown the oil sands, so they're eliminated. The Liberals want to raise taxes, so that doesn't sit well with me either. The Wildrose is just too far right for me socially and a lot of their points just seem like a PC-redux.

I also have an issue in my riding where no one running seems to live there. I know I might be in the minority here, but that really bothers me. the one guy who I know does is the Alberta Party guy, so I guess I should give him credit for that. The PCs are probably parachuting a guy in from the NW who lost a nomination but worked on Redfords campaign. The Wildrose guy hasn't replied on twitter, which I basically assume means he doesn't live there. I don't know who the Liberals are running (hows that for being such a strong partisan?!) and like I said on twitter the NDP candidate could be from Mars and I still might not give them any attention.

In short, sorry my indecision on this is so troubling for you! I'll do my best to make a decision early after the writ is dropped and be sure to post that here though!

I'm not losing any sleep over it; I just like calling you on it. It's my opinion that all these points (above) are a facade in order to roll out the liberal (small "l") talking points under the auspices of "undecided." Maybe you really are trying to justify in your own mind some sort of decision process, however, if you're honest with yourself, you probably already know where you'll end up. Anyway, go through the process.

If the residence of the candidate actually sways for whom you vote, then I guess my assumptions are way off-base. In the meantime, I'll be waiting anxiously for your decision to be posted on CP as promised.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well if someone who owns a business wants to run, the harder part is that they have a four year, full time and (contrary to public opinion) a really demanding role! Campaigning for a mere 28 days isn't enough to win a competitive riding, so that would rule out a lot of people to begin with. I've worked on campaigns where we started about two years in advance. A little fluctuation with the election date isn't a big deal in that context. Both FL and I ran in the latest civic campaign (not against each other in any way) and we both started way ahead of the actual campaign period. It's just what you have to do to win. (we both lost!)

Except that if you win, you have a decent paying job for ~4 years, so it's reasonable to quit the one you have. Since winning isn't guaranteed, those with unflexible careers don't want to quit unless they win.

I could take 4 weeks off to run for office if I gave 6 months notice that I needed those 4 weeks. On 28 days notice there's not a chance of getting that much time off.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by zuluking

I'm not losing any sleep over it; I just like calling you on it. It's my opinion that all these points (above) are a facade in order to roll out the liberal (small "l") talking points under the auspices of "undecided." Maybe you really are trying to justify in your own mind some sort of decision process, however, if you're honest with yourself, you probably already know where you'll end up. Anyway, go through the process.

If the residence of the candidate actually sways for whom you vote, then I guess my assumptions are way off-base. In the meantime, I'll be waiting anxiously for your decision to be posted on CP as promised.

Well I can still be undecided even though I would say that I'm generally of the small "l" liberal persuasion.

The residence does matter to me. It frustrates me that my riding will have nothing but parachuted in candidates from basically every party. I understand that from a party just scraping to get 87 candidates, or maybe running a candidate against someone who is too strong to beat. When the riding will have no incumbent though its not acceptable to me.

Thats my own pet peeve and some people will say it doesn't matter. It does bother me though.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Out of curiosity, are the Wildrose social policies that bother you real or perceived? I ask because I am a strong supporter of the WRA but definitely do not support traditional right wing social values that are more commonly associated with religious groups.

Well they're probably primarily perceived to be honest. The thing is that when you have a party where pure social conservatives like Link Byfield are running and feel comfortable it sends a message that I'm probably a bad fit there. I also hear the suggestions here from FL about opting out of CPP and things like that and it just rubs me the wrong way.

[GP_Matt]

To add to that the 28 days are the four weeks. It isn't 28 days before the campaign starts it is 28 days before election night. You have our weeks to sort out your job and then organize volunteers, rent an office, setup phone lines, order signs, build sign stands and the million other things that are required to organize a proper campaign.