Convention live-blogging #ndpldr

Follow this stream on Friday and Saturday for my Twitter thoughts and comments on the NDP Leadership Showcase and voting.

I’ll be starting the feed at 10:00 AM PDT on Friday and ending on Saturday afternoon when the voting ends.

As a special preview before the convention begins, here’s the updated Google Insight graphs, showing Mulcair’s interest peaked, while Cullen and Nash continue to rise. Meanwhile, in the second graph, we can see Singh blew his coverage about the time he endorsed Mulcair for second. Furthermore, we see Mulcair owning Quebec with Topp a bit behind. Cullen owns British Columbia and Topp has a slight lead over Nash in Ontario. Finally, Niki Ashton actually outpaces Cullen (who ties Singh) in Ontario.

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If the above frame doesn’t work, just follow me on Twitter.

23 March 2012 – 4:35 PM – I’ve been thinking about it this afternoon and I am starting to think that Cullen backed off of his joint nomination scheme in his showcase. While cooperation was still prominent, he talked about “an open, respectful, democratic conversation about cooperation,” which sounds less like he’d use a win as a signal that he’s allowed to force through his proposal, but rather that it would be approval to begin the dialogue within the party on whether it was a route we wanted to take. This would still take time away from actively campaigning about the kind of country we want (and most Canadians too). This potential retreat from controversy allowed Cullen to speak on his strengths – building coalitions to fight for social justice, the environment, and equality. Perhaps it may just be the move to get him the later round support to win.

As for the rest of the showcases, it appears podiums make people worse speakers. The best speeches were Cullen, Ashton, Singh, and Nash. I was most impressed by Singh’s flash video. It was catchy and told a story that every other video lacked. It’s good to have this guy in the party and hopefully someone makes him Health Minister one day, but he still ended with “God bless Canada”, a phrase that silenced an otherwise predominantly godless crowd.

I’ve already cast my first round vote for Niki Ashton. There are far too many naysayers who discount her because of her age.

I don’t know who I will vote for in the next round but am leaning back and forth between Topp and Cullen if Niki drops off. I suspect anyone with less than 10% support will drop. After Mulcair’s pompous performance today, I don’t see myself supporting him in this race. Nash was better than I’ve seen her but I’m still hesitant.

Check back here tomorrow for more updates.

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2 thoughts on “Convention live-blogging #ndpldr”

    1. My Masters is finished, so I am no longer involved in active THz research. Feel free to email me any articles you think might be worth some commentary.

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