Thursday, September 6, 2012

Fort Whyte byelection

On Sept. 4, I had the pleasure of covering the Fort Whyte byelection. Unlike last year's provincial election, this experience was a little less stressful - most likely due to the fact that we didn't have to write a story the night of the byelection.

I was assigned to cover Liberal candidate Bob Axworthy's campaign headquarters and to be honest, I didn't know what to expect.

As I arrived at Axworthy's location at Cafe 13, there were numerous signs of support for NDP candidate Brandy Schmidt outside the building. This was very odd. I phoned Axworthy's headquarters and sure enough, I was at the right place.

Unlike Jim Maloway's election headquarters last year (which consisted of a small room next to a Subway), Cafe 13 was cozy.

The atmosphere was quiet until about 8:30 and that's when many of Axworthy's supporters started arriving. Of note, Jon Gerrard, leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party, was on hand to show his support for Axworthy.

Gerrard has also seemed to take more interest in social media as he was quick to give out his Twitter handle and name of his blog.

From talking to some of Axworthy's supporters, a large portion of them knew it was unlikely that he would overtake Brian Pallister, but they all believed in Axworthy and his ties to the community.

Axworthy also acknowledged his slim chances after polls closed by saying, "Well, they (the results) speak for themselves."

Even though the outlook was grim, he tried to remain positive.

"The advance poll hasn't come in and as I've said many times, I'm a coach who plays to win," said Axworthy. "The final buzzer hasn't gone, but I clearly see what's going on (speaking about Pallister's lead).

When it was official that Pallister had indeed won the byelection, Axworthy said, "I intend and want to stay in politics."

As for doing the live "rants" on Red River Radio, it was a good learning experience. While we did practice them in class the week before, it was much different doing it live from campaign headquarters during the middle of a byelection.

Overall, it was another great CreComm learning experience.





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