Author: Dave Cournoyer

It’s November 12 and I find myself already getting excited for Christmas. I’ve quenched this thirst with a healthy listen of the fine holiday music I’ve loaded on my iPod.

I’ve been enjoying my new investment in the West Wing Series Box Set. I haven’t seen some of these episodes in years and it’s great to watch again.

I’m going to be making a sneak appearance at the big broo-haha Alberta PC leadership candidate’s forum tonight in Edmonton so I’ll let you all know my thoughts on it. It’s really been bothering me on how much attention this race has been getting in the local media – which is fairly close to the same amount of media given to a general election (full page articles in the daily newspapers). Not to mention that the articles which are actually on issues are positioning pretty much every issue facing Albertans as “PC leadership race only,” not recognizing that the 53% of Albertans who didn’t vote Tory in the last election are dealing with these same issues.

It’s also fairly embarrassing that the daily dedicated pages are starting to include such hard hitting journalism as “If the Tory leadership candidates were dogs, what kind of dogs would they be?” and “what is your favorite food?”

As the snow continues to fall and we get deeper and deeper in to the winter dark, I’m sure I’m not going to be the only politico who is going to sigh a breath of relief when that race is over with and we can seriously start debating “real issues.”

For those of you wondering where I’ve been over the past few days of bloglessness bliss, I’ve been focusing my non-work related energies on enjoying my most recent purchase: THE COMPLETE SERIES BOXSET OF THE WEST WING.

Yes, that is correct, I, daveberta have purchased what can only be described as some of the seriously most incredible television ever to hit the shelves of Best Buy. I’m watching the series from beginning to end… still in the first season…

Ohhh. If only real politics could be like the Bartlet Whitehouse…

On another note, the Alberta PC leadership candidates will be grilled on the Arts at a forum on Monday at 12noon in front of the CBC Offices in Edmonton City Centre. Though Alberta is the richest province in Canada, it stands in the back of the line when it comes to funding for the arts. The future of Alberta’s arts communities is a very important issue and I am planning to be there to watch the candidates get grilled!

I just watched five minutes of Nancy Grace on CNN. The topic was…

Kevin Federline and Britney Spears
Nancy goes inside the Britney Spears divorce battle. Can her soon to be ex get custody of the kids? What about the pre-nup? Nancy breaks it all down. Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Headline News.

I think I just killed 500 braincells…

I’m not going to qualify this video with much of a response, other than it was a typically classless remark from our soon-to-be former Premier. And I’ll leave him with the same comment I left with Mr. MacKay.

Note the cheering.

Yep, Carol Off will be in Edmonton speaking at the U of A Students’ Union‘s Revolutionary Speaker’s Series on Monday, November 13!

Carol Off will be speaking about her new book “Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet.”

Details…

Carol Off, CBC investigative reporter and writer
Revolutionary Speaker Series
Monday, November 13th at 7 PM (doors at 6:30 PM)
Horowitz Theatre, Students’ Union Building
Tickets: $10 ($8 Students), available at Ticketmaster, Earth General Store, SU InfoBooths

I’ll be there, so I hope you can make it out as well!

I’m sure I was not alone last night as many politicos from across Canada watched the glory of democracy in action as the mid-term election results rolled in from across the Union to the South. On Monday, in prep for last night, I laid down some bold predictions for some of the major races in the U.S. Senate up for grabs. Let’s see how my clairvoyance faired in the 2006 mid-terms…

(My predictions) v. reality. – according to CNN.com

House of Representatives
Democratic – (225) 229
Republican – (210) 196
10 seats undecided

Thoughts: I may not have been too off in the end, but I clearly underestimated/overestimated the Democrats/Republicans (or something). It should be interesting to see how America’s first-ever woman Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leads the new Democratic majority over the next 6 months before the Presidential bids spin in to high gear. Also, Democratic Representative-elect Keith Ellison is the first Muslim to serve in the United States Congress.

Senate
Republican – (50) 49
Democratic – (48) 49
Independent – 2 (caucusing with the Democrats)

Thoughts: Ironically, this was my original prediction weeks ago. But for some reason, I was convinced that George Allen would hold on in Virginia. Also, it should be interesting to see how the Democrats deal with the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings of Robert Gates’ following Donald Rumsfeld‘s post-election resignation. Senate committee chairpersonships should be interesting to watch as well.

Here are some of the serious races in the Senate with (my predictions) v. reality…

Arizona
x-Jon Kyl (R) – (56%) 53%
Jim Pederson (D) – (42%) 44%

Connecticut
x-Joe Lieberman (I) – (51%) 50%
Ned Lamont (D) – (43%) 40%
Alan Schlesinger (R) – (6%) 10%

Maryland
Ben Cardin (D) – (57%) 54%
Michael Steele (R) – (43%) 44%

Minnesota
Amy Klobuchar (D) – (62%) 58%
Mark Kennedy (R) – (38%) 38%

Missouri
Claire McCaskill (D) – (49%) 49%!!
x-Jim Talent (R) – (48%) 48%!!

Montana
Jon Tester (D) – (50%) 49%
x-Conrad Burns (R) – (48%) 48%

New Jersey
x-Robert Menendez (D) – (52%) 53%
Tom Kean Jr. (R) – (48%) 45%

Ohio
Sherrod Brown (D) – (53%) 56%
x-Mike DeWine (R) – (47%) 44%

Pennsylvania
Bob Casey (D) – (55%) 59%
x-Rick Santorum (R) – (45%) 41%

Rhode Island
Sheldon Whitehouse (D) – (53%) 53%!!
x-Lincoln Chafee (R) – (47%) 47%!!

Tennessee
Bob Corker (R) – (52%) 53%
Harold Ford Jr. (D) – (48%) 47%

Virginia
x-George Allen (R) – (51%) 49%
James Webb (D) – (49%) 50%

Washington
x-Maria Cantwell (D) – (57%) 58%
Mike McGavick (R) – (43%) 39%

So, overall I don’t think I was completely off target (at least only by a couple of percentage points…). Thoughts?

This may be slightly random, but you have to check out the TV commercial on the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary website. It’s really fun.

Can’t you just imagine the parts of the commercial they cut out – when the Koala’s attack the family as they happily eat their lunch…

This is great…

This is for all of you political “what-if” speculators…

No room for Reds in Morton’s Tories
Tom Olsen, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, November 07, 2006

If you’re worried about the state of democracy in Alberta, elect Ted Morton. Not because he has a package of refreshing democratic reforms — all the contenders in the Tory leadership race have that.

Nope, elect Ted because if Morton wins the race to lead Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives, there will be a Red Tory exodus from the party.

The constituency which Morton derides as “liberal lite” will look for another political home. They’ll find it, maybe, in a new centrist conservative party, or perhaps with Kevin Taft‘s Alberta Liberals, who will make themselves more palatable by tightening up on the fiscal restraint.

Olsen continues…

Liberal boss Taft, by contrast, says a win for Morton is a victory for Alberta’s Grits.

“There would be a larger opposition in the legislature, absolutely,” said Taft. “And it would be led by Ted Morton.”

So, the U.S. mid-term elections are tomorrow and in celebration of the greatest democracy ever to exist on this fair planet of ours, I’m going to lay down some solid hard predictions on some of the Senate races up for grabs tomorrow on Tuesday the 7th of November this 2006.

My predictions:

House of Representatives
Democratic – 225
Republican – 210

Senate
Republican – 50
Democratic – 48
Independent – 2 (Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, and Bernie Saunders in Vermont)

Here are some of the serious races in the Senate with my predictions…

Arizona
x-Jon Kyl (R) – 56%
Jim Pederson (D) – 42%

Connecticut
x-Joe Lieberman (I) – 51%
Ned Lamont (D) – 43%
Alan Schlesinger (R) – 6%

Maryland
Ben Cardin (D) – 57%
Michael Steele (R) – 43%

Minnesota
Amy Klobuchar (D) – 62%Mark Kennedy (R) – 38%

Missouri
Claire McCaskill (D) – 49%
x-Jim Talent (R) – 48%

Montana
Jon Tester (D) – 50%
x-Conrad Burns (R) – 48%

New Jersey
x-Robert Menendez (D) – 52%
Tom Kean Jr. (R) – 48%

Ohio
Sherrod Brown (D) – 53%
x-Mike DeWine (R) – 47%

Pennsylvania
Bob Casey (D) – 55%
x-Rick Santorum (R) – 45%

Rhode Island
Sheldon Whitehouse (D) – 53%
x-Lincoln Chafee (R) – 47%

Tennessee
Bob Corker (R) – 52%
Harold Ford Jr. (D) – 48%

Virginia
x-George Allen (R) – 51%
James Webb (D) – 49%

Washington
x-Maria Cantwell (D) – 57%
Mike McGavick (R) – 43%

How far am I close or off the mark? I’m looking forward to finding out tomorrow night!

Just as Michael Ignatieff did last week, on Friday Alberta PC leadership candidate Mark Norris had the opportunity to meet me. It was an interesting encounter at Hudson’s near the U of A Campus. Mark Norris was having a very well attended hockey night at the bar, which I unintentionally stumbled upon.

For those of you not familiar with Mark Norris’ political history, here’s the skinny. In 1992, Norris was a key top-player in Ralph Klein’s Alberta PC leadership campaign against then-Nancy Betkowski. Nine years later in 2001, Norris ran against and defeated then-Alberta Liberal leader Nancy MacBeth (formerly Betkowski) in Edmonton McClung.

From 2001 to 2004, Mark Norris was Alberta’s Economic Development Minister, a position in which he grew a substantially noticeable ego. In 2004, Norris’ team ran a slow and lackluster re-election campaign in Edmonton McClung. Norris was defeated by Liberal Mo Elsalhy. Now, with no seat in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly, he’s running to be leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives.

So, now my thoughts… Norris is a campaigner. No doubt. He’s homey and he’s doing a decent job in trying to mirror Ralph Klein’s campaign style and mannerisms and he’s fairly good at it. I actually had a decent five minute chat with him and I surprisingly didn’t disagree with all of what he had to say.

Now to one of the more interesting parts of the evening (other than the giant Hummer with Mark Norris’ face on the side). When I first approached Norris, I overheard a nice conversation he was having with what appeared to be some large members of Edmonton’s Polish community (or the “Polish mafia” as they referred to themselves). There was a lot of talk about Dinning’s apparent support within “the Polish mafia,” “Church blah blah blah” and “who’s gonna take out Lukaszuk?”

It may just be me, but I don’t think they were talking about taking Lukaszuk out to Dairy Queen…

I think Jim Dinning might have just made his YouTube debut… I can’t tell…

I know it’s been said that Canadian political techniques tend to be 5-10 years behind the Americans, but can anyone explain what the heck that was?

It seems that our soon to be departed Premier will be sitting in a communications chair at Mount Royal College (and soon to be Mount Royal University if Jim Dinning has his way)…

I thought this was the best quote of the story…

Samantha Power, president of the University of Alberta Students Union, said the premier’s presence on campus may have some positive benefit.

“It might let him see some of the problems of the post-secondary system up-front,” she said. “He can see some of the effects his cuts have had over the past few years.”

While it might be too late for Klein to do anything about it, she’s hoping he will pass his insights on to his friends in the governing Tory party.

That’s right. Dr. Michael Ignatieff, MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore had the pleasure of meeting me yesterday afternoon at a reception here in Edmonton. Overall, I think he was fairly impressed with me and my question asking abilities.

Though I wasn’t anywhere near to being blown away, I was fairly impressed with Ignatieff’s performance, though he is very much a podium speaker and needs to work on his non-podium speaking posture.

Like I’ve said before, I don’t necessarily agree with all of his ideas and policies, but I do respect that they are well thought out and that he is able to defend them with academic arguments.

And of course, being the political junkie that I am, I couldn’t leave the event without Chairman Ignatieff to sign one of his little red books for me…