Voted

[sabotabby]

I have never seen lineups like this. It took an hour (I know that's nothing in the US, but in Canada that's a very long time—you're usually in and out in 5-10 minutes for advance polls). Also it's Easter, and raining. The poll workers were stressed but the mood in the lineup was quite cheerful and chatty.

You do not get a sticker or a lollipop and I think that needs to change.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I know, same. It's just a clear indication that they don't have any one. Layton, as much as I liked him, was a big slide towards abandoning workers and aiming for an educated professional and student class, of which there is just simply not enough to elect a government. So while many of the NDPers have ideals that I more closely align with, they end up being a vote-splitter that I can't even back comfortably for ideological reasons.

[dissectionist]

That is a sadly perfect way of putting it.

[sabotabby]

A protest vote is one thing when you agree with the party that has no chance of winning, but when I don't, I might as well vote for the lesser evil.

[ioplokon]

From the outside, it looks like they have the Obama problem. You do really well electorally because you have an exceptional candidate. Then try to keep up with the strategy that they had because, well, it's a winner. But actually people just really liked that specific person.

[sabotabby]

No, I think you're on to something. Layton moved the party farther than the right (Mulcair continued that, but not to the degree that people think). But Layton was successful because he was super likeable, charismatic, and smart. They haven't been able to re-capture that (except for a few times when they let Singh off his leash). People didn't want the rightward shift, they wanted the likeable guy.

[rdi]

I feel like Singh has done very little up until this election, when he’s suddenly become a bit of firebrand, probably because he’s got nothing lose by doing so because his head will be on the block afterwards anyway. Or do you think he’s been kept muzzled by the party bureaucracy?

[sabotabby]

He's had his moments where he's become a firebrand, but it's always in short bursts. I actually have no idea what he believes on a personal level.