We Have Liftoff

I squeezed into the Italian Cultural Centre last night for the NDP's Vancouver campaign launch.

I go to a lot of blatantly partisan events: picket lines, rallies, conventions, so I tend to check my enthusiasm with the thought that everyone in the room is already a true believer. However, last night, I couldn't curb the feeling that I was actually having fun. As the 1,000 or so people filled up the hall, there were buzzing conversations, pacing, fidgeting - nervous energy, but positive energy.

Joy MacPhail introduced the Vancouver-area candidates and Carole James, which, while providing the optics of passing the torch, also provided the optics of Joy MacPhail still being around: that's a distraction for New Democrats still warming up to James, and a bone to nitpick for anyone who wants to question the "New" in New Democrat.

James was better last night than she was in Victoria last Friday - a lot more at ease and putting more emotion into her speech. I left thinking that she will get better as the campaign goes along, but still needs to show she can deliver off the cuff. Both Gordon Campbell and Adrianne Carr like the name-calling schoolyard rhetoric that generates easy soundbytes, and "Doing Politics Differently" might not be an effective response.

The Liberals had their campaign launch yesterday as well, where Gordon Campbell once again attacked the NDP as being controlled by 'big labour' and 'union hacks'. Coming from CUPE BC, That's funny, given that Judy Darcy wasn't handed a nomination and we still don't have a straight answer on pay equity. If you're scoring at home, I did a head count of union hacks last night, which totaled George Heyman and.....what the hell, me.

If anything, it was fun to be in a huge crowd and chant N!D!P! N!D!P! You'd be surprised how few and far between the opportunities to do that are....