Fight for your Right…
At peak there were several hundred people upstairs, with a lineup going down the stairs, more people on the main level, more people milling around outside. These were people from all camps, Iggy people, Rae people, Dion people, all of who presumably passed up the chance to spend that time at their own candidate’s hospitality suite. I think the momentum is in the air, and i was really glad to see the broad support for my candidate because I believe he is best positioned to heal old wounds and renew this party as leader and Prime Minister. Gavin Magrath
The Tyee’s own Laura Drake (who seems to have made quite a hit in the blogging room) cites Paul Wells’ first law of Canadian politics that the most boring outcome is the likeliest.
While this may be true my own largely infallible and non-partisan rule of thumb is that the candidate with the best parties wins. The old joke that “they don’t call them political parties” for nothing is surprisingly acute.
The party/pretty rule actually makes sense if you look at the nature of political conventions. Essentially, for a week, very powerful people behave as if they are at a pep rally in a particularily enthusiastic highschool. Grown men and women put on silly hats, odd scarves and festoon themselves with buttons. They listen to a lot of policy debate which is about as important as Grade nine social studied because, as one Liberal realist said, “The Leader makes policy.” ( The implications of this application of Führerprinzip to Canadian politics is meat for another day.) They pay homage to the glorious past - “We’ll not see Bill Graham’s like again.” - and ritual deference to the Gods (and their sons on Earth). They cheer for their team during “demonstrations”. They show spirit and pep.
And party!
Now, remember Friday night in high school? Remember when a cool kid and a not so cool kid had a party the same Friday night? Or remember the difference between nightclubs with lineups and those you could just walk into? The biggest difference between a good and a mediocre party is that people want to be at a good party.
As in high school, so in life.
The weird part of the party principle is that it can’t be faked. Either a party rocks or it doesn’t. It is either the place to be or deadsville.
From various blog accounts it sounds like Kennedy won the first round. But he may have peaked too soon. After all, the first night is basically the Grade eight sock hop where everybody comes and nobody is quite sure who’s cool and who’s lame. There are two more party nights to the vote and party mo can spin on a dime.
(On a related note: KMG and I agree that one of the sure signs of a winning campaign is that the women involved are markedly pretty. Which, I suspect, may be the reason parties hosted by candidates who are in contention are rather more fun than some of the others.)
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with
1 comment.
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#1. December 1st, 2006, at 5:40 AM.
“the most boring outcome is the likeliest”
Huh. I guess that means the Libs should be putting Ralph Goodale up against Harper in the next election. Harper is boring, but Goodale trumps him in that department. If boring wins then Ralph’s your man.