Politics is filled with myths.

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
“I do not remember.”
“I cannot sell your wheat.”
“Welcome to Ralph’s world.”

The truth is hard for some politicians to get their head around, I say this understanding that at times politicians are not going to be completely truthful and campaigns are usually even more full of hot air.

So in 2005 when Dave Crutcher was running for the leadership of the Alberta Alliance party it was obvious that there was a lot of interesting comments made.  During the campaign one slogan was used by his team, led by Craig Chandler.

1. Media
2. Manpower
3. Money

They even went so far as to have T-shirts made up with the three items on the back.

Chandler is an experienced political operative who worked numerous campaigns over the years claiming that he has won the majority.   During the 2005 leadership his group claimed they could bring three things to the party.

Interestingly one of the volunteers on the Crutcher campaign was Mark Dyrholm, current leadership candidate for the Wildrose Alliance party.  Crutcher and Chandler are also serving on Dyrholm’s campaign team. Crutcher at least was also the president of the Calgary Edgmont PC Association when Chandler won the nomination.

The reality of 2005 Alliance leadership election was that Chandler could not bring in the media, manpower or money to lift the Alberta Alliance into the 2008 election.

In fact Chandler and the media have generally had a love-hate relationship.  They supposedly hate each other but Chandler’s lack of filter and the media’s love of controversy match very well.

Money is debatable but no single source donor can bring enough financing to make a party credible.  As well manpower means you actually have a solid team behind you with thousands of ready volunteers.

So far Chandler’s and others have not been able to deliver more than two Alberta PC nomination wins in the last few years.    Chandler himself has proven too polarizing to win an election and few others he supports seem to be able to deliver.

The other issue is that Chandler and company cannot seem to show loyalty when they lose.

Maybe, I have been soured over past dealing, 1997 and 2005 stand out quite clearly, but I suspect if the Wildrose is not assured a place in government Mr. Chandler et al may find a newer and shinier toy.  They have done so often now I find myself bored with the whole discussion.

What is sad is that so many people in the media in Edmonton cannot seem to pin the dots together.  So many are surprised when I mention Chandler being involved.  Although they always think he has the ability to organize.  Of that I am not convinced.

Of course I could be wrong, Dyrholm could win this race and maybe social conservatives are joining en mass to defeat the “liberal” Danielle Smith.  Honestly, does anyone really see this happening?

Time to stop living in the past and move on and that might mean Craig Chandler and his company need to get with the program, instead of always trying to force their way to the front of the line.

They may have to listen for once.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 12:57 PM and is filed under politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.