The Tories will knock on Wood...
...but, for what it's worth, here's an e-mail Preston Manning's former communications director fired off to the Alberta Liberals today:
I have met a lot of politicians over the years including every Prime Minister going back to and including John Diefenbaker except Kim Campbell. My list includes a lot of Premiers as well, including Ernest Manning, Duff Roblin, John Robarts, Bob Stanfield, W.A.C. Bennett, Bill Bennett, Lougheed, Klein, Bernard Lord, Joey Smallwood, Robichaud of New Brunswick and several more. All of this just to establish that I can claim finely honed instincts when it comes to politicians and which ones I’d trust and those I wouldn’t. I met Kevin Taft for the first time yesterday in a political social setting and came away convinced that deciding to support and vote for the provincial Alberta Liberals was the right decision. Those finely honed instincts tell me that Kevin Taft is a straight shooter and will be a Premier in whose hands my beloved Alberta will be safe and thoughtfully managed.
It is my hope that in the waning days of the campaign, Albertans will wake up and see that it is time for political renewal and recognize that their only hope for that renewal is with Kevin Taft and his team. He is not a glad-handing, back-slapping politician of which we have abundance in Alberta . He is one of those rare types who can focus on the people he meets as individuals and not just one more voter he has to shake hands with quickly so he can move on to the next one. This is not a skill politicians develop, they’re either born with it or don’t have it. There are politicians who can work a room because there are votes in it. The more and valuable politicians are those who work a room because there people in it. I watched Kevin Taft closely at the Sunday event and I know he knows and appreciates the difference between a room full of votes and a room full of people.
Labels: Alberta Election, Kevin Taft, Ron Wood
posted by calgarygrit at
6:12 p.m.
8 Comments:
Just out of curiosity, does Ron Wood know his email is being publicized? Does this mean he publicly endorses the Alberta Liberals?
By
Anonymous, at 6:23 p.m.
it would actually scare me if a former communications director fired off an email like this and DIDN'T expect it to be published...
By
Kirk Schmidt, at 7:55 p.m.
eh; Wood's already endorsed the Liberals. People who forwarded this to me said he was fine with it being published.
By
calgarygrit, at 8:01 p.m.
eh - read your own blog, I posted on Wood's endorsement a couple of weeks ago!
By
Anonymous, at 9:54 p.m.
Wood thinks Stelmach govt neither progressive nor conservative, but:
''Wood stressed he remains an ardent supporter of Harper and the federal Conservatives, but feels the Alberta colleagues need time on the sideline to find their roots.''
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=44f0f655-c177-4d26-8582-0253b5836abd
By
wilson, at 9:59 p.m.
I think if the Green and ND Party supporters concede (a) the Greens aren't going to elect and MLA and (b) the New Democrats are not going to Add to their seats, they should throw their votes to Kevin Taft and the Liberals.
By
Anonymous, at 2:27 p.m.
So are you planning a post next on the absolute lack of support Kevin Taft has from Decore-era Liberals (Nicol, Percy, Carlson, Bruseker, etc.)?
If the best Kevin can hope for is that these former Liberal MLAs do not openly endorse someone else... I would hardly call that a victory.
I'd hardly call an endorsement from Ron Wood a big plus. For one, Joe-on-the-street has no idea who the heck he is. And second, this is the guy that helped to ensure 10 years of Federal Liberal majority government, due to the sniping between the two federal conservative parties of the time (PC and Reform).
Calgary Herald poll out today (Feb 27) shows Stelmach completely spanks Taft in terms of perceived competence as Premier, and on the important "who can you trust" question.
From the Herald article:
"A further boon to the PC campaign is that a large plurality of those polled believe Stelmach is the best person to be premier, has run the best campaign, and is the most trustworthy and competent, with Taft a distant second amongst the leaders on all fronts."
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=99766d96-a0a0-42e9-a6d0-bd2fa7abfb4c
[check the paper edition for the graphic results "pies"]
Taft does himself no favours by not being out pressing the flesh with ordinary people, and instead holding to scripted spending announcements. People like me, who try and follow these things have absolutely no idea how much money he has pledged in spending as it continues to grow by the day.
Taft's handlers spend more time sending their people to "protest" at Stelmach meet-and-greets and various candidate debates/forums than they do contacting individual voters, likely to their detriment.
By
Anonymous, at 11:55 a.m.
Ken Nicol came within inches of running for the PC's in Lethbridge. He is not only a supporter, he's a HUGE supporter. I wouldn't rule out him running in the future for them.
By
Anonymous, at 5:52 p.m.
Post a Comment
<< Home