Thoughts on a busy afternoon

*The Liblogs press conference seemed to be a great success this afternoon, with a good turnout of print and TV journalists. Cherniak did a number of interviews and so did many of the other bloggers here. I had a good chat (I think) with a reporter from the Toronto Star, so we’ll see how that turns out in print tomorrow. Ken Rockburn from CPAC has also been up a few times; he’s going to pop by tomorrow night to join us as we blog the first ballot results. I think there’s a lot of education going on about what blogging is all about; it will be interesting to see how the coverage plays tomorrow.

*This afternoon was the constitutional plenary. The reform package passed but one member, one vote went down. It’s very disappointing. As I blogged earlier, I really think we need to go to OMOV. And I hope we come back to this soon. This isn’t over yet. I think a lot of people felt things were rushed, and they wanted more information. I recognize this is the process, but it seems a bit wrong to me that it’s delegates to a convention that are deciding whether or not to do away with delegated conventions. If you’re in the group of people that can afford to come, then you’re more likely to say keep it. We’re talking about a fundamental change to the ways the LPC works. After more debate and education, I think it would be good for ALL delegates to vote in a referendum on the issue.

*Ted and others today have been posting about the large group of Ignatieff supporters that greeted Iggy when he arrived at the convention centre this morning, and, more specifically, the CBC’s Susan Bonner calling it “the moment of the convention.” I have to disagree with Susan. All the camps have pre-arranged groups of supporters on hand as their candidates enter the hall. All are loud and boisterous. It makes for great b-roll for Susan and the other broadcast journalists, but it’s just theatre. The air war is over, the delegates are all here now and they’re a little too busy to watch TV. Howard Dean’s speech has been the moment so far, IMO.

*Gauntlet is right: Next leadership convention, camps should buy TWO-SIDED placards. Look at so many of the photos and TV coverage of white signs. You can get more bang for your buck.

*Another hour and it’s down to the hall for the evenings festivities, and the tribute to Paul Martin. Hope to be live-blogging the festivities again, but in the spirit of party unity I shall do my best to keep my snark in check. :)

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