The Thrill of Victory! The Agony of Defeat!
Well, maybe just the agony of defeat.
It is now technically election day, and I am barred from campaigning, which is more than fine by me.
Today offers an interesting mix of emotions: I am going to coordinate the efforts of about two dozen people to keep track of who has voted in more than 70 polls across the city of Regina. That is problematic, but doable. I think. It will probably be stressful, I will probably get some premature grey hairs, but it will soon enough be over.
But today is also when I find out how well our campaign has done. To be sure, the national campaign left a lot to be desired, so any increase in our vote will be a victory of sorts. To actually win would be even more fantastic, a first for me, and at present does not seem outside the realm of the possible. Campaigning for a Liberal in Western Canada is notoriously tough, and with the various gaffes, scandals, and newly-proposed gun bans, this one is even more difficult. Even though this is Saskatchewan, which does not have an Alberta-esque visceral hatred for all thing Liberal, it takes extra effort to get every single vote that we do.
I have probably worked harder over the past 8 weeks than I ever have in my life, just as I don't think that I've ever felt time go by as fast as it has. I really like my candidate, and hope that he gets elected not just because I have invested so much time, but because I genuinely think that he would bring a lot to Parliament. I've probably got candidate fever, it happens when you do nothing but talk about how great a guy is for 2 months, but I don't remember being quite as certain with previous candidates.
So all this is to say, that there is probably a good chance that I'll be dissapointed tomorrow night. If not locally, than almost certainly nationally. It'll suck, and my bottle of victory scotch will quickly become my defeat scotch, but I'll get over it. The great thing about electoral politics is that every few years you get to try to convince people that you are right. The awful thing about electoral politics is that too often people just don't seem to agree. But that's okay: the fun isn't just in winning, its trying to get there.
As a side note: It'll be nice to get back to a regular diet. 16 hour days produce a lot of fast food, and our options are mostly limited to Pita Pit and McDonalds. While the choice would initially seem obvious, Pita Pit actually gets kind of gross after 18 days, and McDonalds is pretty consistent in its mediocrity.
It is now technically election day, and I am barred from campaigning, which is more than fine by me.
Today offers an interesting mix of emotions: I am going to coordinate the efforts of about two dozen people to keep track of who has voted in more than 70 polls across the city of Regina. That is problematic, but doable. I think. It will probably be stressful, I will probably get some premature grey hairs, but it will soon enough be over.
But today is also when I find out how well our campaign has done. To be sure, the national campaign left a lot to be desired, so any increase in our vote will be a victory of sorts. To actually win would be even more fantastic, a first for me, and at present does not seem outside the realm of the possible. Campaigning for a Liberal in Western Canada is notoriously tough, and with the various gaffes, scandals, and newly-proposed gun bans, this one is even more difficult. Even though this is Saskatchewan, which does not have an Alberta-esque visceral hatred for all thing Liberal, it takes extra effort to get every single vote that we do.
I have probably worked harder over the past 8 weeks than I ever have in my life, just as I don't think that I've ever felt time go by as fast as it has. I really like my candidate, and hope that he gets elected not just because I have invested so much time, but because I genuinely think that he would bring a lot to Parliament. I've probably got candidate fever, it happens when you do nothing but talk about how great a guy is for 2 months, but I don't remember being quite as certain with previous candidates.
So all this is to say, that there is probably a good chance that I'll be dissapointed tomorrow night. If not locally, than almost certainly nationally. It'll suck, and my bottle of victory scotch will quickly become my defeat scotch, but I'll get over it. The great thing about electoral politics is that every few years you get to try to convince people that you are right. The awful thing about electoral politics is that too often people just don't seem to agree. But that's okay: the fun isn't just in winning, its trying to get there.
As a side note: It'll be nice to get back to a regular diet. 16 hour days produce a lot of fast food, and our options are mostly limited to Pita Pit and McDonalds. While the choice would initially seem obvious, Pita Pit actually gets kind of gross after 18 days, and McDonalds is pretty consistent in its mediocrity.
posted by an Mike Powell at 1:06 AM
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