Chandler's Back!
So it seems that I'll be running against Craig Chandler after all. It seems that Mr. Chandler has decided to run as an independent in the constituency of Calgary-Egmont after being denied the ability to run under the provincial Tory banner. It is interesting that he didn't try to run under another of the far right party banners such as the Alberta Alliance or the Wildrose Party. Now that may be that those two parties already have candidates in place in the riding, though I can find no evidence of that on the web. It may also be that given Chandler's baggage, the two parties aren't too keen to have him flock to their banner. There may also be some disagreement on Chandler's part towards the two parties' respective platforms. Whatever the reason, Chandler has decided to go it alone. At the very least, Chandler seems to believe that there's a mass exodus of Tory members to his cause and has set up a slate of independents across Calgary. It's interesting to note that Chandler doesn't actually mention a number of how many people have left the Tories, later on in the thread claiming he didn't want to "Fire all his ammo at once". His list of five (including himself) anti-Tory candidates is hardly a mass exodus, and are unlikely to garner enough votes to win. The best that Chandler can hope for is that he and his minions manage to take enough of the Tory vote to cause Liberal victories in those ridings. What is the more likely outcome is that the entry of these five will further split the far right vote, much of which has already fled the PC's, preventing any candidate with a far-right agenda from winning. It is just as likely that a more moderate Tory running in these ridings will pick up enough Liberal votes, or woo back more of the Tory vote that didn't bother to show up last time, than the vote split will result in Liberal or NDP victories in those ridings. Much as I'd love an NDP victory in Egmont...
To add to the air of the jilted lover that Chandler seems to be putting on, he is also claiming to be launching legal action against the Tories for what he claims are $120 000 in campaign expenses. It will be interesting to see what those expenses were. Generally speaking, during an election for MLA in Alberta, candidates spend less that $50 000 and in 2001, the latest election data is available for on the web, no one spent more than $68 000 so it will be interesting to see Chandler list his expenses in open court. It would also be interesting to see where he got the $127 000 to begin with as he doesn't list his donors on his website as there is no requirement for him to do so. Given that I didn't see signs or hear any ads in the electronic media, Chandler spent a lot of money on something.
This could all, of course, just be a way for Chandler to keep his name in the news until the election is called in the belief that there's no such thing as bad publicity. In a sense is is a cheap way financially to get your name out there, given that he spent $127 grand on something other than advertising. The risk for Chandler is, given his huge amount of baggage, that his grandstanding will turn away voters from his cause in truckloads. In that case it would be wise for him to keep his head down and his mouth and keyboard quiet.