On the move!
Agh! You’re still here? My new site and weblog, ianking.ca is now up and running; new posts are building up over there, never to be mirrored here. Go! What are you waiting for? All the stuff worth keeping has been migrated over to the new server, and I don’t anticipate making any more posts here.
Bloggers and webmasters: Update your links! Simply replace vancouverscrum.blogspot.com with www.ianking.ca in your blogrolls or bookmarks to point to the new site. Old posts will remain on this server for as long as the people at Blogger/Google allow them to remain; unfortunately, I’m not going to bother to come up with any way of converting permalinks on this blog to their corresponding posts on the new site. Yes, I plead laziness. I also realize the irony of switching away from Blogger just it starts to add features that the demanding blog nerds insist upon.
Thanks for reading and linking, and see you over at ianking.ca!
—Ian King, December 13, 2004
Friday, November 08, 2002
Vancouver Courier opinion-monger and newly-minted Langara College journalism instructor Allen Garr reports in his column that COPE mayoral candidate Larry Campbell may be far ahead in the race for the Mayor's chair.
Garr was reporting from Sunday's COPE campaign gala and fundraiser, where 780 people (at $100 minimum a pop) dined on roast beef and halibut at a swank downtown hotel -- proving that the city's left-leaning political party has come a long way. If Garr's sources are correct, Campbell may have more support in the city than all his other rivals combined. If so, it's an impressive feat; there are three high-profile candidates for mayor this year: Campbell, NPA nominee Jennifer Clarke, and vcaTEAM challenger Valerie MacLean. Garr says that MacLean's support is dropping linke a rock.
MacLean's support was mostly based on a dislike of the NPA's dumping of incumbent mayor Philip Owen, combined with a distrust of the "free-spending socialist hordes" of COPE, Larry Campbell's party. However, as the campaign has progressed, Campbell has stressed that his vision of city hall is one that does not grant financial favours for friends, and one that reviews spending carefully.
MacLean, a political neophyte, has also had a tough time in debates against Clarke, who, with nine years' experience on Vancouver city council, has a detailed knowledge of city government, and the media-savvy Campbell, who expresses a clear vision for the city and its troubled Downtown Eastside. Campbell's vision is usually meekly supported by MacLean, but she can't claim the issue, or match Campbell's passion.
Campbell, on the other hand, has kept his party's base of support happy throughout this election, and has reached out to those Vancouver voters who have not traditionally supported his party, but who might be ready for a change at City Hall after 16 years of NPA rule. The "sign wars" tell a tale. It's normal that COPE signs outnumber those of other parties in the areas east of Main and north of Kingsway; that's a given. But on West 10th? South Cambie? King Edward Avenue? In previous elections, COPE signs were rare on those streets; now, they outnumber those for the NPA on some stretches.
However, the campaign has a week to run. The NPA will be blitzing the airwaves, and the print media, with advertising, and a lot of it will attack Larry Campbell as inexperienced, and questioning his shoot-from-the-lip style. COPE will fire back, depicting Campbell as a decisive leader, and one with a clear direction.
Stay tuned.
Reports, opinions, columns, and anything else on this site, are © 2002-2003 Ian King unless otherwise noted. Permission granted to use material on this site for non-commercial purposes provided that the work is attributed to the original author. All other uses require specific permission of the original author. Contact weblog owner with any inquiries.
Feel free to link to this web log. The management likes getting lots of traffic.
