Rossi's Challenge

The 2008 fundraising numbers are out:

CPC: 21,190,928.22 (up 25%)
Lib: 5,900,511.89 (up 30%)
NDP: 5,466,434.84 (up 37%)
Green: 1,631,293.79 (up 66%)
Bloc: 713,415.22 (up 66%)

On the bright side, Liberal numbers were up 23% in Q4 while most other parties only matched their Q3 numbers, but this may have been due to the leadership "race". Either way, the Tories' 6.3 million to 2.3 million Q4 edge shows that Rocco Rossi and friends have a lot of challenges ahead of them.

But just how bad is it? Well, if you add in the public finance numbers, these are the 2008 totals:

CPC: 31.6 million (67% from donations)
Lib: 14.6 million (40% from donations)
NDP: 10.5 million (52% from donations)
Bloc: 3.7 million (19% from donations)
Green: 2.9 million (56% from donations)

So, no matter how you slice it, the Conservatives had a 17 million dollar advantage in 2008, and the Liberals are still hopelessly addicted to public party financing - which, for them, will be dropping by 1.6 million in 2009, due to low vote numbers last election. If donations stay the same in 2009, here's what the different parties can expect to rake in:

CPC: 31.3 million (68% from donations)
Lib: 13.0 million (45% from donations)
NDP: 10.4 million (53% from donations)
Green: 3.5 million (47% from donations)
Bloc: 3.4 million (21% from donations)

It may not be a sexy topic but, when you look at these numbers, it's clear that increasing party fundraising numbers should be priority number 1 for the LPC right now.

"It's a private meeting Keith"

I know a lot of Tories read this blog so maybe they can help explain to me what the hell "strategic genius" Stephen Harper was thinking when he invited select media personalities to a series of hotel rooms a private spin session on Sunday?

First of all, assuming reporters are going to keep a private meeting secret is kind of like assuming what is said in a Liberal caucus meeting will stay secret. The Ottawa press gallery is one giant clique so of course they were going to tell each other about it.

And, given this, how did Harper's crew expect the non-chosen ones to react? If there's one thing the media love more than process stories, it's process stories about the media. And they were all over this one. You can read some very amusing recaps here, here, and here. And I bet Keith Boag had as much fun putting together this piece as I had watching it (Carole: "Can you imagine why some reporters were invited and others weren't?" Keith: "No Carole, I have no idea at all").

And I'd say judging from the newspapers and TV coverage so far that this attempt at media controle hasn't exactly gone according to plan...