politics

Well, I lost my bragging rights on when Jack was going to overtake Dion for most popular Facebook politician in Canada, but nevertheless he has finally done it!

At lunch today a number of New Democrats were suprized to see that Dion's supporters spiked, I presume as a number of staffers or supporters attempted to salvage his stalled popularity. I subsequently believed it would take a couple more days (with the "you can run but you can't hide" mentality).

A quick update, again. It now looks like in an unprecidented relative gain of 75 friends within two days, Jack Layton will soon become the most popular Canadian Facebook politician!

I had originally placed my bet on July 10th, which would have been correct if not for Dion's little perk of "Green Shifters", but in the end it seems as though Jack's popularity and support for his work has won out. Though I wish I had won the target date, 'm extatic! Go Jack!

Just a quickie, but Jack has pulled close to Stephane Dion-- Currently sitting 119 friends back of "Do nothing" Dion, Jack will soon make a sprint to overthrow Dion as the top Facebook politician.

Have you added yourself as a supporter of Jack? Do you have Dion on your list and have you removed him yet?

I was scoping out Wikipedia recently, and noticed this article for Tom King had him identified as an incumbent. While this is not necessarily true yet, I do think it sends a strong message to our supporters and friends in the area and across the country: Tom can win this riding. The Conservatives, Liberals, and Greens are all saying that it can't be done which is in fact I think a fearful message, meanwhile Tom's visibility and organization has far surpassed the other candidates.

Following Howard Hampton's announcement to step down as of March 2009, and therefore hold a leadership contest in the ONDP, New Democrats Online has launched an Ontario NDP Leadership 2009 Coverage page.

Currently, this consists of forums and discussions, with some poll options. However this will be moving in the direction of YouTube, candidate bio's, Q&A, etc.

Having previously been an Obama supporter, I was urged by a friend to take a second look at John Edwards as a candidate for my support (which is of course grossly academic as I am not an American citizen). While I was convinced that Edwards best reflected the changes that I thought were necessary in Washington, I did not agree with my friend that Obama was too closely tied to the establishment or that he was outright an apparatus of the/any American plutocracy. I simply had decided that Edwards was stronger on the issues that I cared about.

Well not really. Actually I'd like to take this opportunity give the ravijo.net-bump to Cam's recent move to adopt audio content on his site. the Peterborough Politics Podcast (what I meant by P3s) is top notch, following his steady stream of excellent blog posts.

Cam's most recent episode is solid through and through. Carry on brother, carry on!

Jack Layton closes the Facebook gap to 400

As of today, NDP Leader Jack Layton is officially within 400 supporters of the front runner Stéphane Dion and closing quickly. It seems everytime an email blasts hits with his facebook link people jump on board.

Just a quick note for those who are interested in the e.NDP newsletter. I've uncovered a complete archive online going back to December 2004 (presumably the first one sent out). Hopefully they'll keep the permissions such that we can look back (no harm in that, right?).

One of the main undercurrent's of the Liberal Party message against the Conservatives has been their inference of Harper's ties to American style politics. It's hard to imagine a party such as the Liberals holding any sort of credibility on the matter of Canadian sovereignty, but nevertheless they plug away at the "All Canadians are Liberals at heart" scheme.

What's becoming clear now is that while the Conservatives perhaps engage primarily in American style policy, the Liberals are now engaging in American-style politics.