05 May 2005
Red Tories, Yellow Torries and a hole in my shoe!
I can not believe it is polling day already. We feel like we are in a by-election here as the Lib Dems think they can turn around the Labour majority and so have been working overtime on leafleting. I have received seven or eight leaflets from them and often the same piece of literature. The quality of the publications are pretty shoddy. They have a standard pose for all of their photos, this involves said perspective member of parliament standing outside hospital, or station or something slightly linked to the story, pointing at official looking document or bus timetable. The same photo of the candidate posing and pointing with the children of a loyal LibDemer has featured on no fewer than 5 different leaflets. This kind of publication is about as imaginative as their input on the council!
The number of leaflets has a mixed effect on people. Most find it very annoying and many think it is wasteful. I know in some countries each party or candidate gets a small section in an election pamphlet and this might not be a bad idea. Of course if we had free internet access for everyone it would be much easier to run green campaigns without excluding people so much!
My shoes have now worn out because of the canvassing trail! I have a massive hole in the front of both. I am not sure if we are supposed to put them down as an election expenditure, which is not to exceed £10,000 or so and must include the use of all items rented or borrowed. I presume my shoes were being borroed by the campaign. The day after Charles Kennedy had been to town to do a rally I asked the Lib Dem candidate about how the declaration of expenditure worked! The roady who was packing up the stage gear the previous evening told me that the whole event would have far exceeded £10,000 and that the TV companies would have foot some of the bill anyway. Our candidate, realizing the complete lack of fairness in exposure and budget, sheepishly explained that this was a national campaign expense.
We know we have not knocked on enough doors, but we have spoken to a lot of people and raised our profile. The response has been excellent toward us and so many people agreed so openly with our policies and ideas. It highlights the lie and sham we are living in. The majority of the people feel completely trapped and pressured to vote tactically, even if they were adamant they were not. A good line I was using on the doorstep was “ are you voting with your conscience or tactically?”, there a considerable number of people who quite seriously said “oh both of course!”.
I split the voters in to six categories.
1) Respect or Green Voters
2) Lefty and pissed of with all politicians
3) Lefty and so pissed of with New Labour will never vote for them again!
4) Lefty and very pissed of with Labour but so fearful of Tories!
5) Lib Dummer!
6) Tory
My scientific Study shows that four out of six people would vote Respect (or left of the three parties) if the Tories didn’t exist! We have had a very good response and some ‘gains’ in categories one, two and three and a few successes in category four and five! It is however very bizarre, not to mention frustrating that, due to the expected close battle between Red Tories and Yellow Torries in Cambridge, many of category four will vote Labour and many of category three will vote Lib Dem and, although they all have the same politics as us and each other, they will cancel each other out and decide the result - of which none will be satisfied!
The number of leaflets has a mixed effect on people. Most find it very annoying and many think it is wasteful. I know in some countries each party or candidate gets a small section in an election pamphlet and this might not be a bad idea. Of course if we had free internet access for everyone it would be much easier to run green campaigns without excluding people so much!
My shoes have now worn out because of the canvassing trail! I have a massive hole in the front of both. I am not sure if we are supposed to put them down as an election expenditure, which is not to exceed £10,000 or so and must include the use of all items rented or borrowed. I presume my shoes were being borroed by the campaign. The day after Charles Kennedy had been to town to do a rally I asked the Lib Dem candidate about how the declaration of expenditure worked! The roady who was packing up the stage gear the previous evening told me that the whole event would have far exceeded £10,000 and that the TV companies would have foot some of the bill anyway. Our candidate, realizing the complete lack of fairness in exposure and budget, sheepishly explained that this was a national campaign expense.
We know we have not knocked on enough doors, but we have spoken to a lot of people and raised our profile. The response has been excellent toward us and so many people agreed so openly with our policies and ideas. It highlights the lie and sham we are living in. The majority of the people feel completely trapped and pressured to vote tactically, even if they were adamant they were not. A good line I was using on the doorstep was “ are you voting with your conscience or tactically?”, there a considerable number of people who quite seriously said “oh both of course!”.
I split the voters in to six categories.
1) Respect or Green Voters
2) Lefty and pissed of with all politicians
3) Lefty and so pissed of with New Labour will never vote for them again!
4) Lefty and very pissed of with Labour but so fearful of Tories!
5) Lib Dummer!
6) Tory
My scientific Study shows that four out of six people would vote Respect (or left of the three parties) if the Tories didn’t exist! We have had a very good response and some ‘gains’ in categories one, two and three and a few successes in category four and five! It is however very bizarre, not to mention frustrating that, due to the expected close battle between Red Tories and Yellow Torries in Cambridge, many of category four will vote Labour and many of category three will vote Lib Dem and, although they all have the same politics as us and each other, they will cancel each other out and decide the result - of which none will be satisfied!
