Ten Candidates to root for

Sporting events are pretty dull unless you have someone to cheer for. Similarly election campaigns -- having a bias makes it interesting. Watching the results roll in as a disinterested observer would be boring. But even choosing a favourite party is pretty dull. The overall results are usually called pretty early, and then all that's left to follow is the precise totals of seats.

But there is the drama of the individual candidates' races. Real people with personalities and histories, battling it out to be 'first past the post'. In order to inject some excitement into Monday evenings coverage, I suggest picking a few races to watch, doing a bit of research, and picking who you want to win. If you're too lazy to do that, you can use my list. From East to West:

Mary DeWolfe - Kings-Hants - Conservative

I have no idea who Bob Mullan, but I'm sure he's a good person. I do know who Scott Brison is, and he is not a good person. He's DeWolfe's Liberal opponent, known for being a turncoat from his former party, telling a former campaign worker to "kiss my ass", and for being the point man in Paul Martin's campaign of misdirection and obfuscation to bury the Gomery report. He's claimed Kings-Hants as his 'turf', and has boasted that he will be the MP there for "a long, long time." He's probably the slimiest MP in Parliament.

Chances: Three more days is all that's left in that "long, long time." Brison looks like he's going down. But it could be close.

May Chiu - LaSalle-Émard - Bloc Québécois

I don't know much about May Chiu either, but she is nine months pregnant and her due date is on election day. She's running against Paul Martin in his safe Montreal seat. While it might be fun to have Martin in Parliament as the head of a much reduced Liberal party, there's no doubt he'd be pushed out of the leadership pretty quickly, and he would resign his seat. Plus, he deserves the humiliation. Besides, Chui's victory speech would be fun to watch.

Chances: Not great. Martin still looks pretty safe. But (warning: cliché coming) 'the only poll that counts is on election day'.

Lawrence Cannon - Pontiac - Conservative

Obviously I'll be watching this race pretty closely. Especially since I'll be flying the poll results spreadsheet at Cannon's election night headquarters. I've put in a fair amount of effort for this campaign and will be ecstatic (crushed) if we win (lose).

Chances: Very good. A local poll was released recently that shows Cannon just a point behind the Bloc, with the Liberals far behind. Voters who want to block the Bloc now have a clear choice.

John Baird - Ottawa West-Nepean - Conservative

This riding is interesting because of a independent candidate that aims to be the spoiler for the Conservatives. This seat would probably be a safe Conservative win. It was a very close Liberal victory last time, but this time has former Ontario cabinet minister John Baird running for the Tories. But Baird is on record as a supporter of gay marriage (as are many other Conservatives), which has inspired John Pacheco to run as an independent 'pro-family' candidate. For an independent, he's been pretty active and has been well funded. He can't win, but he hopes to drain enough support from Baird to teach him a lesson.

Chances: I think Baird will still win. In fact, Pacheco could even wind up helping him. Pacheco's shown himself to be a bit of a loon in his media appearences, and by targeting Baird he makes him look good.

Belinda Stronach - Newmarket-Aurora - Liberal

What? How could I want Belinda to win? Well, let me explain. She's rich and well connected. If she loses, she can go back to her world of privilege and never look back. But if she's elected as part of a dwindled cohort of Liberals, she'll have to stick around Ottawa (hopefully for four years) and collect her measly MP's salary. She won't be able to resign without taking a lot of heat. And as a bonus, she might get ambitious again and join in with Ignatieff, McKenna, Tobin and Manley as they squabble over the corpse of the Liberal party.

Chances: Not good. Oh Belinda, we hardly knew ye.

Peter Kent - St. Paul's - Conservative

It would be a major victory if the Tories could get one seat in Toronto. Peter Kent offers the best chance for that.

Chances: Slim. What is it with the people in Toronto?

John Capobianco - Etobicoke Lakeshore - Conservative

No clue who he is, but he's not Michael Ignatieff, and that's good enough for me. Ignatieff is probably a good guy, and our Parliament would be enriched by his erudite presence, but I have this cruel streak and I need to feed it. Ignatieff has been carefully chosen and groomed for this new role, was introduced to all the right people, and had all the doors opened for him. For me, it's a pleasure to watch all that preparation come to naught.

Brad Farquhar - Wascana - Conservative

Another riding where I'm not looking for someone to win, but hoping to see someone lose. Ralph Goodale, our sloppy Finance Minister, is Farquhar's opponent. Goodale's gyrations over the income trust issue have cost a lot of people a lot of money, and he has failed to even acknowledge that something went wrong.

Chances: Goodale's in Saskatchewan, deep behind enemy lines. Farquhar should win it easily.

Svend Robinson - Vancouver Centre - NDP

First Belinda, now Svend? I have obviously lost my mind. But no, there's a good reason for wanting to see Svend back in Parliament: he's just so gosh-darned entertaining.

Svend can be counted on to catch full-blown HDS (Harper Derangement Syndrome) in the event of a Conservative win. He'll rant and rave, posture and bluster, and indulge in his passion for ridiculous stunts. It'll be a great show. He'll discredit Harper's foes and regularly embarrass Layton. The US has Teddy Kennedy, Britain has George Galloway, and Canada must have Svend.

Chances: Poor. Hedy Fry looks like she's going to win it. She's nuts too, but not as much fun.

Troy DeSouza - Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca - Conservative

This is the riding of another Conservative defector, Keith Martin. Though not as odious as Scott Brison, Martin has been an effective defender of the Prime Minister's twisted priorities. It'll be nice to see him lose.

Chances: Very good. The riding has a history of voting Reform/Alliance, and with the Liberals swirling down the drain it's a fair bet they'll go Conservative.

UPDATE: Oops! Commenter Andrew Carson pointed out I had the name wrong for the candidate in Kings-Hants. I've corrected it.

Posted by Bruce Gottfred at January 20, 2006 03:34 PM | TrackBack