Candidates go all out on final day of Alberta campaign
Parties target Calgary voters in last push
In the final feverish hours of the election campaign, Calgary candidates and supporters from all parties turned their focus to the ground game — the all-out, no-holds barred battle to get bodies to the ballot box today.
On the agenda for most candidates was a frantic schedule of door knocking, leaflet-drops and phone calls on the weekend.
For example, Calgary-foothills incumbent Len Webber spent part of Sunday door knocking with Progressive Conservative Leader Alison Redford.
Surrounded by an unwieldy entourage of volunteers and media, Redford accompanied Webber as he visited a stretch of homes on Hidden Valley Drive. While a visit from the party leader can provide a jolt of energy to a local campaign, most political organizers say there’s no substitute for a well organized “get out the vote” effort.
“We’ll spend election day on the phones. Once we max out our phone lines, we’ll use our cellphones,” said deputy campaign manager Alecia Peters.
“There’ll be 10 to 15 people just calling everyone in the riding ensuring that they know where to vote.”
For the first time since 2004, Webber will face a serious challenge for the consistently Pc-blue riding in the form of Wildrose candidate Dustin Nau.
The psychologist spent much of the day door knocking before hosting party Leader Danielle Smith at his noisy Northmount Drive campaign office Sunday night.
Nau’s campaign manager said he’s confident it won’t take much to get voters to the polls today.
“Albertans have already indicated that they’re very interested in this election. They’ll make their voices heard without a lot of poking and prodding from us,” Ron Smith said.
And with forecasts calling for clear skies and sunshine, voters could be tempted to the polls in huge numbers, said pollster Ian Large of Leger Marketing.
“Based on what we’ve seen from the advance polls already, I’m expecting quite a large turnout,” Large said. “The biggest challenge for the campaigns will be to get out as many of their supporters as they can.”
Liberal and New Democrat candidates across the city spent Sunday calling on the party faithful.
In the city’s southwest, New Democrat Rick Collier began Sunday by literally running a race.
The 70-year-old professor ran a 15-km race for charity where he took first place in his age category.
“Let’s hope it’s a presage of what’s to come on election day,” Mardy Roberts, Collier’s wife and campaign manager, said with a laugh.
The Calgary-glenmore candidate is running a campaign emblematic of many centreleft campaigns across southern Alberta — managed on a shoestring by a remarkably committed, if tiny, band of volunteers.
Collier’s campaign headquarters consists of the better part of his dining room.
“We don’t have big bucks, we don’t have a big campaign staff,” admits Roberts.
“We’re just hoping that people who have indicated support for us will turn out to put an X on the ballot Monday.”
In Calgary-foothills, Liberal candidate Kurt Hansen made his final rounds of door knocking Sunday in a neighbourhood bordering Nose Hill.
Employing the philosophy that a campaign is more marathon than sprint, the Liberal hopeful has been touring his riding for nearly nine months already.
“I’ve done what I can do, I cannot see what I could do within the last afternoon or evening that will change people’s minds,” said Hansen who estimates he’s visited around 8,000 homes since last July.
“Most voters have already decided, but I guess time will show.”
The Alberta Party has pinned their hopes on Calgary ridings with a history of voting progressive.
Calgary-currie candidate Norm Kelly is promising a flash mob event Monday morning at Shaw Millenium Park to remind voters to hit the polls.
A spokesman for the party says they’ve come a long way this campaign in introducing the party to voters.
“I think we’ve seen a tipping point where, when we get to the door, people know who the Alberta Party is, and the momentum is starting to build,” said spokesman Bill Busst.