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Edmonton Journal's Lorne Gunter on blown opportuny

From http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=4f6d...



Liberals blew a golden chance

Stumbling, bumbling Tories were there for the picking this election

Lorne Gunter, The Edmonton Journal

Published: 2:03 am



The best ads of this provincial election campaign, bar none, have been those produced by the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Building Trades Council. Too bad they will have almost no electoral impact.



The ads are sneaky in that they don't admit who paid for them. They air under the stealth banner "Albertans for Change."



They effectively whip up discontent against the provincial Tory government, yet fail to channel the widespread restlessness into a specific political recommendation, such as voting Liberal or NDP.



They create an itch they cannot scratch.



But at least the visual and audio messages of the Albertans for Change ads are consistent. The images one sees on the screen match the spoken messages being conveyed.



These ads may have an indirect impact if they help to further depress the Tory vote and allow the odd extra opposition MLA to get elected. But despite their obvious expense, I suspect they will have very little influence on the outcome one way or the other.



The worst ads are the Liberals', particularly the ones showing party leader Kevin Taft driving around Edmonton's Refinery Row.



That ad has Taft saying "This is our (Hesitate. Look down.) moment," to a tiny crowd that appears artificially



eager to give him a standing ovation -- leaving the impression that Taft appeals to very few people and even they have to be prodded into showering him with praise.



That's bad enough, but in the same commercial, as Taft is saying, "Ed Stelmach says the future is full of risks.



I say it is full of opportunity," he is driving. The camera is shooting up at his face from seat level and Taft appears to be ducking down and squinting as if to look out the side window for a house number or street sign -- you know, the way you do when you are having trouble finding your way.



The message: "I'm lost." Not exactly the impression a leader wants to leave.



Both ad campaigns, though, are indicative of the campaign as a whole: There is a lot of discontent with the Tories, but everyone who opposes them is at a loss to capitalize on voters' desire for something new.



If, as nearly everyone suspects, the Tories are returned tomorrow with a reduced, but still comfortable majority, those who oppose the government should kick themselves for the hapless way they have conducted this campaign. This was their best opportunity in 15 years to loose the Tories grip on power and they failed -- utterly -- to do it.



Taft may see the province's future as full of opportunity, but he should look back on the past 30 days as a giant missed opportunity. The Tories were there for the taking. They had a leader that inspired few in his party. Their campaign team were the benchwarmers from their B squad. The cabinet mishandled nearly every major issue thrown its way in the past 12 months and the Tories' strategists completely flubbed the first 10 days on the campaign trail.



This election has come as close to shooting fish in the Tory barrel as the Liberals, NDP and unions are ever going to get and, still, they could not hit the target.



Since 1992, when Ralph Klein became premier, Alberta's Liberals, in particular, have sneered and scoffed at every Tory win, insisting they were smarter, morally superior and better able to plan the province's future, if only the province's voters would get over their inexplicable love affair with Ralph.



Well, this time, the Liberals have no excuses. Klein is no longer premier. The Tories' leader is a farmer in a province where two-thirds of the residents live in the two largest urban areas -- and many of those residents have no natural affinity to the Conservatives, having moved here within the last election cycle or two.



Ed Stelmach is also not a Calgarian, so the Tories could not count on winning 20 or more of that city's seats by default this time. The Tories do not enjoy their customary Calgary head start.



And there is the desire for change, which is greater than at any time since the Tories replaced the Socreds back in 1971.



So how come the smug Liberals, who for so long have contemptuously dismissed the Tories, couldn't even manage to kick them when they were down? The truth is, for all their self-satisfaction, Alberta Liberals would have trouble arranging for flatulence at a bean dinner.



And something happened during this campaign that none of the opposition groups counted on: Ed Stelmach got better. To be honest, that development surprised me, too.



It's not that Stelmach has grown on me during the provincial election campaign, but rather I think he has begun to grow into his job as Alberta premier. After a disastrous opening 10 days, Stelmach has slowly, gradually, incrementally become more comfortable in his own skin.



I still don't like many of his policies or his spendthrift ways, but he has shown himself better than the alternatives.



lgunter@shaw.ca



© The Edmonton Journal 2008

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