THUNDER BAY – The Alberta provincial election is down to the wire. Much of the work now for all campaigns comes down to the get out the vote effort. ‘GoTV’ is a key component of any election campaign. The polls and the signs on lawns might share an idea of what direction a campaign is headed, but the key to winning in a political campaign is the ground game.
Right now that means getting the vote out. The ground game on the ground will either win or lose the election. For the PCs who the pollsters are saying have lost the campaign up until now it will really depend on how well the fairly smooth and professional Wildrose campaign is set for the last stages of the most important part of the campaign.
Angus Reid in their last poll before the vote state, “Among decided voters in Alberta, 41 per cent indicate they would vote for the Wildrose Party, with the incumbent Progressive Conservative Party in second place with 32 per cent. In third and fourth position the Liberal Party and New Democratic Party (NDP) remain in close contention with 13 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.
“While the Wildrose Party’s lead over the competition is significant in Calgary with 44 per cent support (compared to 32% for the Progressive Conservatives), the party is in a dead heat with the PC’s in Edmonton (35 per cent vs. 33 per cent, respectively).
“Among the four main parties, the Progressive Conservatives have the lowest voter retention with only 38 per cent of those who voted for Ed Stelmach’s PCs in 2008 saying they would support the party now. Moreover, over one-half (56%) who voted for the PCs in the last election now indicate they will vote for the Wildrose Party. The Wildrose party has the highest voter retention with 77 per cent, followed by the NDP (61%) and Liberal Party (46%)”.
The polls in Alberta are open from 9:00AM to 8:00PMMDT, and likely it will be late into the evening in Ontario before the results are known.
Already there are complaints from the Wildrose campaign that robo-calls are being used against them. In a media release on Friday, Wildrose states, “Over the past number of days Albertans have been receiving a burdensome number of automated phone calls claiming to be Wildrose. This notice is to confirm that these calls are in fact fraudulent”.
The campaign, in the last days became increasingly personal, between the Wildrose leader and the PC party leader. Likely much of that is a result of the desperate nature of the PC campaign, which Wildrose has said is being run by “eastern Liberals”.