Well. That happened.
I came into this election feeling pretty damned apathetic. Our riding was pretty secure — even the earliest polls showed Rob Fleming out in front. Hubby even opted for a sign on our front lawn….
…but here’s my confession. Even though I really like Fleming — both as a person and as a representative — I could not support Adrian Dix as leader of the NDP let alone our Premier…. so when it came time to mark my X, I went Green.
Was that unethical? Maybe. Was I alone? Maybe not. Looking at the numbers, there is NO way any pollster was going to suggest the Liberals would take this, being 20 points behind when the election writ was called. However, I don’t think most split left. I think most of the people who were adults in the 90’s were fearful of an NDP government — especially people not living on the coast (look at the CBC-Election map (screen-captured at 10:45 pm 14 May) and you’ll see the orange NDP all down the coast and tucked into the Kootenays but red Liberal everywhere else — oh and one little dot of Green on the island.).
I also think, with turnout looking like it’s a pathetic 48%, I think some of the NDP’s support figured it was “in the bag” and stayed home. Classic blunder. (The most famous is never to get involved in a land war in Asia!) And on that note, I really have to congratulate Fleming and his team — they very actively reminded us to vote, either for the advance polls or today. We got door-hangers, phone calls, and visits. Very well-coordinated campaign and they got the vote out and even though it was a re-election and polls were in his favour, his team did not take the lead for granted.
Clark ran her campaign the same way — she did not take anything for granted. She stumped all over the province — pretty much every one of the 85 ridings. She took photo-ops, put on hard hats, kissed the proverbial babies, and, like her or not, worked hard. Dix? He had an air of entitlement around him that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
So. What will this mean? Business as usual for the most part — certainly not the money fight I was expecting to see if the NDP got in. On the other hand? We kept the devil we know.