It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.........

This time last night, I was sitting in a folding chair, my weary feet resting on another waiting to hear the results of the second ballot at local Conservative nomination convention. It had been a hard fought battle........one that stirs the fire in the belly of a political animal like myself. The strategy, planning, orchestrating, organizing that goes into a campaign is like a passion drug which culminates into the day when the crazy disorganized yet organized team (like the back scenes of a restaurant kitchen) that is often pulled together under their preferred candidate only a couple of weeks before the big day. And on the big day??? It's go, go, go.................with the hopes that all the work done behind the scenes set your candidate up to take the brass ring.

Nomination conventions are different than a regular election, mostly because it is THE venue for the like minded armchair politicians. Partisan chortling reigns. Slamming the other parties is like chowing down on appetizers before the REAL election. It has a feel of safe, where your philosophical perspectives are generally the same, and theres room for debate on the peripheral more unique ones. It's not a cookie cutter kind of thing........far from it. In any politcal party, there is a vast range of different thinking, though they all seems to stem from the same mission statement of sorts. Lots of smacking and snacking goes on..........

I met my candidate, Brian MacDonald last year when I was working in the last provincial election for one of the candidates who also happened to be running for this brass ring though I had no idea at the time that this was to be. I was impressed with Brian then, and my respect and my determination to help his campaign grew the more I got to know him.

Over the year, we kept in touch, sometimes meeting for a beer just the two of us, as we both needed to get to know one another. Our conversations ranged from current events, to government machinations, to the hot button topics which are often left off the table with others who may not see the world from the same angle. This fall, the date for the convention was finally chosen and the race was on. My role in Brian's campaign? I was in charge of organizing the big day for him and his team.... a role I have played before and one I do love because it puts me RIGHT in the middle of the melee as the conductor.

The key to winning the nomination however happens before the big day. It starts with a crucial membership drive, to garner support and continues with encouraging these delegates to show up.........in political terms, it is called GOTV...........get out the vote. It's a rallying of the troops, an organzational strategy that gets hammered out by a team of people who come from all walks of life, who come together in boardrooms and livingrooms after putting in a long day at work. It's the gameplan planning all around a list of names who have been signed up to vote on convention day that brings a team together........that allows a team to learn about one another as individuals with gifts and skills and contacts to bring to the table. Those lists are scrutinized and analyzed ad nauseum.

Timelines revolve around the candidate, and for mine we needed to arrange for as many opportunities for Brian to meet and greet............for people to get to know him. Despite the fact that this man has more impressive credentials than his opponents as well as an inherently nutured propensity to be a leader, the thorn in his side is the fact that he's "from away." He didn't grow up here. He didn't go to school here. He doesn't have family ties to Fredericton. Though he is a Maritimer, and grew up in Halifax, this is not acceptable for SOME neanderthal reason by the majority of the old guard in this party as well as in this city. He's considered an unknown and a risk. His other supposed thorn? He's a single good looking man. Hello? This is a negative thing? It is with the dusty headed types who can no only step outside of their life boxes, but won't even peer over the edge.

back to the team thing ............

Arguments, shouts of differing opinions as well as whoops of cheers all feed the need to recognize the team member as all key to the pulling of a win. And as much as I love the day of the convention when my role kicks in most predominantly, the backroom rabble fuels my energy level..........feeds my political addiction and puts me in a room with a bunch of people who feel and are fueled by the same.

The goal is clear. No argument there. How we manage to achieve it needs to be hammered out, by a group who all harbour opinions. There are few shrinking violets on a political planning team. Opinions are never scarce. Neither are the laughs. I definately had my share of hair pulling confrontations where blood pressure rises and heads shake. I even stated to my husband last weekend to SHOOT me if I ever offer to get involved in one of these horse races again. Like any event, there is always a period of frustration in the planning. Like any group or team, there is a process that happens which includes Forming, Storming, Norming and then Performing.......... In a few short weeks, this team somehow managed to reach the performing level........to get there involves a venue to bark and to bellow, to stretch each other's thinking and to live in a uncomfortable place of learning.

So....................................there I was sitting in a cavernous drafty room with my sore feet pulsing from overuse waiting to hear the results all the while replaying the planning and then the day through my head.

I had been in that arena since 11 am decorating and setting up then orchestrating meeters and greeters, scrutineers and overseers........making sure the food was delivered and devoured, the beer flowed, the people arrived, the t shirts were passed out, the stickers were used up, the music for the speech worked, the timing for the enmasse group to arrive and march in waving their signs etc............ loving it and loving the energy.

Political events are like any sports final...........it is FULL of emotion, intrigue, and butterflies. I was nervous as all get out, fueled by adenaline and caffeine......motivated by the electricity of the crowd which numbered over a thousand at the peak (impressive considering the Liberals only managed to get 300 TOTAL out to vote in their nomination convention on a Saturday night no less......) My brain was sharply focused and I was firing on all cylinders. It felt good to be in the middle of the event.

No, it wasn't a smooth night. There were several blips and glitches, as is expected. Some of them in hindsight were more planned by one of the other teams (oh, heres one..................having their theme music from the speech demo playing over and over again all afternoon like the sound system was being tested AND then kept on as background music throughout the voting............... or not having the music guy available until the last minute to discuss the planning for the speech demo AND then finding out he was working for the other team and was able to keep their music front and centre during the voting etc) Most that I noticed were of course from our team including me. But it's all part and parcel of politics........thinking quickly on your feet, even if they become weary is crucial.

tick, tick.........tick, tick..........................second ballot results................

It was between Brian MacDonald, a fresh face 36 year old man with an armload of credentials including a stint in Bosnia and Afghanistan as an Officer, studying at RMC and the London School of Economics etc.............versus the safe Member of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly who was introduced as a person who grew up with "a rifle in one hand and a fishing pole in the other"(this is a bonus???? For some backwoods redneck in attendance, I guess so) and whose claim to fame and his own self absorbed legacy is the paving of the Nevers Road and the opening of the road exchange onto the new Trans Canada Highway near his home vilage of New Maryland where he has lived and breathed for 46 years with his wife and family ( he said this in his speech and expected people to cheer ???? How frigging lame was that???)

We lost by 8 votes.

Many pints of beer was consumed after that one.

I'm still shaking my head...............perhaps if we had been able to boast about our own paved road......would the results had been different. Did we lose by one measly paved road???

This city has ONCE again voted for the so called safe bet and will ONCE again lose the next election. We had a chance to return this riding to the rightful owners after a 20 year hiatus. 20 years!! What's funny is that this riding is still perceived and considered Conservative despite the obvious fact that it has been a Liberal rep in Ottawa for quite a while. Fredericton Tories will never learn and will not be in power when Stephen Harper drops the election date bomb in the near future, because ONCE again, they just chose a man who would never hesitate to hang out at a smelt fry.

I'm out of there............

I wish the lot of them well and will see them in a couple of years to hammer it out again.