Monday, July 6, 2009

Smith Should Challenge the Strength of Dyrholm's Campaign Team

In the race for the leadership of the Wildrose Alliance Party, one of the areas that the two campaigns diverge sharply on is that of campaign volunteers. At the time of this blog posting , Mark Dyrholm has an no fewer than thirty-one volunteers listed on his campaign web site [ http://www.markdyrholm.ca/our-campaign-team ] including the redoubtable Craig Chandler. The effect has been that many observers of the Wildrose Alliance leadership race have come to the conclusion that Dyrholm has a stronger campaign team and an advantage in grassroots support. It has been lack of grassroots support and not fundraising that has been a problem for the party's electoral chances.

Interestingly enough, Danielle Smith has opted not to list any members of her campaign team on her web site including her campaign manager. Presumably Danielle some prominent people helping her campaign like oil and gas industry insider Dave Yager, but she has decided not to list their names on her web site or those of any of her key volunteers. The result has been to reinforce the perception that her campaign team lacks the strength of Dyrholm's. Unless it was simply an oversight on her web site, it is curious that Smith would not challenge the strength of Dyrholm's campaign team by listing her own team and volunteers on her own web site.