The race is widening against the Wildrose; they’re only being called for 17 seats now.
Raj Sherman’s riding is also very close - 47 votes at the last count.
CBC is signing off its coverage - the one thing I missed was that as far as I can recall, they never showed a map of the province with the ridings showing who won where.
I’d be interested to see the voter turnout for this year. In 2008 it was 40.6%, which is ridiculous compared countrywide.
I’ve been pulling that off of here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/live-results-alberta-election-2012/article2405211/
I guess being white wasn’t so good for Ron Leech: Controversial Wildrose candidate Leech falls short against PC rising star Bhullar in Calgary-Greenway
And commenting on hellfire didn’t help Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsberger: Edmonton Election Results.
I’d suggest that both of those incidents contributed to Wildrose’s defeat. The former arose recently, and given the nature of his remarks (“As a Caucasian, I’m qualified to speak for all in a way that minorities aren’t,” paraphrased), was easy to take in a way that he did not intend. Still, he should have thought first, and carefully spoke.
The latter was, IMHO, just plain frightening. Hunsberger’s blog remarks were reported more and more frequently in the last few days. I am sure that they influenced people who did not feel that religious beliefs, and threats of damnation, belong in the Legislature.
I have no doubt that Wildrose will convene some sort of meeting, at which Ms. Smith will rip a strip off the two candidates above. Probably some others too. I understand that she was trying to keep a lid on her candidates, and she did a good job that way. But I would suggest to her that she tell all her candidates, potential candidates, and assorted hangers-on, to get rid of all Facebook, Twitter, etc. religious and otherwise redneck remarks about hot-button issues right now, so they don’t come back to haunt the Wildrose at the next election.
So much for living in a swing riding. Last time around in Edmonton-Rutherford, the PCs’ Fred Horne took the riding from Liberal Rick Miller by 58 votes. This time, Horne got nearly double the votes Miller did (a margin about 48 times as wide as last time).
Never in my life would I have believed that someday I’d have hoped for a Tory election win.
The first thing Redford should do is get rid of the licence plates. “Wild Rose Country” on millions of plates is like having “Workers of the world unite” on Manitoba’s.
I’m curious about that, too - I believe that there must have been a larger turnout this time, but I don’t know what it was.
I heard on the radio this morning that turnout was 50%.
If that’s not related to incumbency or personalities, then it might be a good example of what happened in this election. There was speculation that NDP and Liberal voters would strategically vote PC to keep the Wild Rose out. Plus the Redford platform is more appealing to those centrist voters than PC platforms of the past. If voter turnout is higher than normal you could also be seeing PC support from people who never bothered to vote when the PC’s were steamrolling in past elections.
My riding was supposed to be close and go for Wild Rose according to the polls. I did not vote PC in the last election, but choose to do the strategic vote thing this time.
Albertans tend to be loathe to change anything. Change is bad, even when what we currently have is equally bad.
I had an awful feeling that the masses would fall right back in line with the Conservatives when they had to fill out their ballots. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t right all the time…
QFT
Well, to be fair, Fred Horne is/was the health minister, and seems fairly well-liked.
I’ve seen a compelling case made that the Wildrose really represented the old guard of Alberta, and it’s Redford that was actual change. Yes, the name on the door is the same, but what’s behind it is different. I mean, Wildrose supporters themselves were making the case that the Torys had moved to the left.
While I don’t dispute that the Wildrose Party is well right of the Conservatives, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Tories have shifted to the left. To me, however, a shift in policy by the Conservatives – real or perceived – still does nothing to address the fact that this is still the party that wrecked health care and education in this province and who still don’t have an effective plan to fix the damage. The voters choosing to not hold the incumbents accountable for their incompetence is disappointing to me. Not surprising, but disappointing.
Don’t think of it as a victory for the right, think of it as a defeat for the far right. For myself, my Liberal incumbent gets to keep his job, and I’m fine with that.
There are those who argue that the Wildrose is now what the PCs were decades ago (back in their education and healthcare wrecking days). The fact that Albertans keep voting them in may mean that the party and Albertans are moving away from the Far Right (which wouldn’t surprise me too much - we have had massive influxes of British Columbians, Ontarians, and Saskatchehoovians).
The pollsters’ post-mortem has begun.
This article suggests that there was a late swing in voter opinion on the weekend that one poll did in fact pick up: Final Alberta Poll Hinted at Decisive Swing from Wildrose to PC:
So the pollsters didn’t get it wrong, just those fickle Alberta voters couldn’t make up their minds until the last minute, by this narrative.
However, another article suggests something more fundamentally wrong with the pollsters: ‘Entire environment shifted’: Pollsters seek answers following Alberta election:
Overall, I think the CBC Newsworld anchor had the best line, speaking last night to one of the pollsters: “So, you guys always say your polls are accurate, 19 times out of 20. This was the 20th time, right?”
Alberta, let your hair hang down
Alberta, let your hair hang down
I’ll give you more gold
Than your apron can hold
If you’ll only let your hair hang down
Alberta, don’t you treat me unkind
Alberta, don’t you treat me so unkind
You keep me so worried
You keep me bothered all the time
Alberta, don’t you treat me unkind
[repeat first verse]
Apropos of nothing, just something I remember from an old Chad Mitchell Trio album.