Angry in the Great White North

a heat-seeking missile in the Conservative arsenal

Delegates to the Liberal Party leadership convention had to register by 9am. Well, that turned out to be easier said than done:

Check this out. The delegate registration process here in Montreal ended at 9 a..m. Lots of people were delayed by the bad weather - so they didn't make it. I've heard about people literally breaking down in tears, when told the news.

This photo, taken a minute ago on my cell camera, shows very, very many Liberals - who are very, very upset - waiting to "bump up" for the vacant delegate spots. This is where the leadership may now be won.

It is like the fabled helicopter lifting off the rooftop in Saigon, totally chaotic, and no other media is paying attention. They should.

It should be said that I am using the photo entirely without permission. Warren makes a very telling point: "This is where the leadership may now be won". So what of this abbreviated delegate group? Did the large number of failed registrations affect the voting?

OTTAWA (December 1, 2006) — Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff has extended his lead over the other candidates based on the results of registration released by the Liberal Party early this afternoon.

According to the results, Michael Ignatieff leads in the number and percentage of delegates that have arrived and registered for the Liberal Leadership Convention this weekend.

"We’re delighted with this result. This shows the strength of our candidate and our organization as we head into this final weekend of the campaign and leadership vote," said Bob Richardson, Michael Ignatieff’s convention co-chair.

The results are as follows:

			Number of Delegates Registered	Percentage of Delegates
Michael Ignatieff Gerard Kennedy Stephane Dion Martha Hall-Findlay Bob Rae Scott Brison Ken Dryden Joe Volpe			1059 619 550 33 689 125 161 105	77% 76% 73% 73% 73% 69% 68% 47%

This was being handed out by Ignatieff workers to reporters and columnists at the convention.

It shows that Michael Ignatieff has lost the least number of delegates, while the other teams have dropped more, and in the case of closest contender Bob Rae, a significant number more. Worse yet, the also-rans have lost a huge number of delegates, diminishing their ability to influence the outcome and in so diminishing their value as allies to the three candidates immediately trailing Michael Ignatieff.

What a lucky break for Michael Ignatieff that so many of the late delegates were for the the other candidates.

Warren might well be right with his prediction:

The Iggy folks were just handing this out, back in the media area. If it's true, he's probably going to win. He's almost double Rae, with a super-committed vote. And Rae better look at his rear-view mirror: Kennedy is pretty damn close. Amazing.