The second Bloggers Hotstove is now available here. It’s a single, 4Mb file, thanks to a quicker, less chatty performance by myself, Greg Staples, Greg Bester, and Bob Tarantino, and also thanks to technical advice from (Greg, who told us how to shrink our MP3s?). So, give it a listen as we talk about the first week of the campaign, the phoney war, and Buzz Hargrove: devastating blow or fatuous ass?
And, Greg, if you could perhaps send me shrunk-down versions of the first hotstove, I’d be happy to put them up as well.
At the end of the piece, I mentioned that I had changed my vote. Previously, I had been leaning towards voting Green, but I decided to cheer Greg Bester up by telling him that I was switching to the NDP. We didn’t dwell on this, so here’s a fuller explanation of my thinking, here.
It’s always been the case that I’m influenced far more by the quality of my local candidate than I am by the party leaders or even their platforms. Ultimately, it’s whether or not I’m comfortable with the prospect of having my various local candidates as my MP. It’s my MP that I will be in contact with far more often than I will be with Paul Martin, Stephen Harper or Jack Layton.
Here in Kitchener Centre, the NDP is fielding Richard Walsh-Bowers. He’s a good man, and has campaigned a few times before. In 2004, he received a startling 20% of the vote in a riding where it has long been said a dead dog could win if it had “Liberal” written on its collar, and that was after the Liberal scaremongering that I think Walsh-Bowers may have been particularly susceptable to, thanks to the unsuitability of the Conservative Party candidate at the time.
I’ve no complaint over the quality of representation of Liberal incumbent Karen Redman, but it’s time for a change, and Walsh-Bowers strikes me as the best candidate to bring about that change. I also think that Walsh-Bowers is less susceptible to Liberal fearmongering this time around. The Conservative Candidate, Stephen Cage, is a member of the Kitchener Chamber of Commerce and a respected businessman. Certainly not a scary individual to inadvertantly elect as an MP.
My decision could still change. It’s a long campaign. But ultimately the only strategy that goes into my vote is whatever thinking it takes to come up with a vote that I’m happy to have made. I want to see the Green Party do well, but I don’t know my local Green Party candidate. In the end, I’m happiest handing my vote to Richard Walsh-Bowers of the NDP because of the person he is, and because he has an honest chance to beat the Liberals.
Further Reading
Another Nomination
I am pleased to say that I have been nominated for Best Canadian Blog in the 2005 Weblog Awards. If you still haven’t gotten your fill of voting between this election and the Canadian Blogging Awards, I certainly would appreciate your vote. You may vote once every twenty-four hours until December 15, and you must have Macromedia Flash 7 or higher installed on your machine to vote.
(Note: Voting is now in progress.)