How not to launch a campaign
February 4, 2008 | 11:31 AM
John Archer
With all the speculation and innuendo that has been around lately (not to mention the multi-million dollar government cheques), you can't blame an opposition party for launching an election campaign early. Once the writ is dropped and things officially get going, the governing party gets plenty of attention and becomes the primary focus of the media for that day.
So the Alberta Liberals decided last Thursday would be the best time to launch their provincial campaign and come together as a unified party with a solid backing. They wanted to show the public they're ready and waiting to take a serious run at the Progressive Conservatives.
Mission only slightly accomplished.
The trappings of the campaign were there. The party slogan is "It's time." It's nice and concise, works well as a chant and, most importantly, we get it.
The glossy platform booklets feature a serious-looking Liberal Leader Kevin Taft on the front page and inside. Clearly, campaign organizers decided it was not time for broad smiles or toothy grins.
And in what's becoming as synonymous with campaigning as lapel buttons, the red scarves were handed out to anybody who wanted one. They'll also come in handy given this campaign will be held mostly in February — which reminds me, PLEASE stop calling this a spring election: spring starts on March 21.
Kevin Taft releases the Liberal campaign platform in Edmonton Feb. 1.
(CBC)
But the Liberals are still prone to making mistakes. And on this night, there were a number that can't be overlooked.
First and foremost, the venue. Everyone was invited to come and hear the party leader enthusiastically kick off the 2008 campaign (gulp) in a lecture theatre at the engineering faculty on the campus of the University of Alberta.
This hampers the party's efforts on a number of levels. Kevin Taft has for years been trying to kick his reputation as an academic who doesn't have the goods for political battles. A university lecture theatre is not going to help that pursuit.
Second, when you're launching a campaign, you want sign-waving and enthusiastic cheering with every sentence that comes out of the leader's mouth. This was difficult to find when people were sitting down in the chairs properly provided for engineering students. The TV cameras left with plenty of video of Liberals sitting quietly as their leader spoke.
News release contained factual errors
The communications staff also didn't help the Liberal campaign on this night. As reporters were still taking off their coats and plugging in their equipment, a news release was sent out by the party. It was 7:01.
The second sentence of the release particularly caught my eye: "Four hundred Alberta Liberals, including many of the candidates, greeted Taft with sustained applause when he spoke this evening on the University of Alberta campus."
Here's the problem: Taft didn't start speaking until about 7:20. And there were 200 people there, not 400. When you include factual errors about an event that has not yet taken place, you're hurting your cause.
Reporters asked Taft after his speech about his goals for the coming election and if he really thinks he has a chance to form the next government.
"We're in it to win it" was his response. If so, somebody needs to ensure that these kinds of missteps are rare.
