Warren Kinsella unplugged and offline

Headed to Toronto-Danforth this evening (where Liberal Andrew Lang is ready to give Jack Layton a fight in the next election) to hear Warren Kinsella talk about European post-impressionism... ok, about politics. How to campaign, and how to win.

Much of his talk would have been familiar to readers of his blog writings over the years, but it was still interesting to hear it in person and it was an entertaining presentation. Here's a few random points he made:

*Speaking about the Conservative Party's obscene money advantage, he rightly noted that (as important as money is) if money was everything, Ross Perot would have been elected U.S. president. Or Steve Forbes. Or some other rich guy.

*What the Liberal pitch should be: government services, go green, the economy. We have the plan and the team, the Conservatives don't.

*The fight Jim Flaherty has been picking with Dalton McGuinty will go down as the dumbest strategy in history, and the best thing is they can't help themselves. Dalton was just re-elected last fall with an even bigger majority, clearly Ontarians much think he's doing something right. And agitating him will only get his loyalists more active federally for Stephane Dion. Also on Ontario, the fed Liberals would be wise to support McGuinty on his fiscal fairness push.

*Stephen Harper is doing well with male voters, they're not falling in love but many are thinking he's not as bad as we'd feared. Female voters, however, are smarter and more intuitive. They don't like Harper; they can tell something is off.

*In Quebec, Harper's spooning with Jean Charest is over and Mario Dumont has proven a wet firecracker, cozying up to him was a mistake. Harper's in trouble in Quebec. Yes, the Liberals aren't doing well either. But Quebecers are strategic voters, they like a winner, if the Liberals can get momentum in the rest of the country Quebecers will sense it and join the parade.

*Bloggers that think they can really affect political change should give their heads a shake, blogs will not supplant the main stream media. The Conservatives have deliberately decided to piss off the media, big mistake. They're putting a lot of stock in the new media, they think the political discourse is happening on the Web...it's not, and it's a fundamental miscalculation by the Conservatives.

*Stephane Dion is a decent, hard working guy...and so are Canadians. Well, and gals too. Canadians will always gravitate to the person most like them, because they think (rightly or wrongly) that's the person that will best understand them. Don't try to change Dion, people can sense a phony. Let him be himself, he comes off as earnest and sincere...just to eager and in a hurry. If he can slow down a little and explain what he's about, what he's proposing, people will get on board.

*Lastly, on the Web he says it's becoming all about being visual, and video. People won't read long blocks of text (except you, you're an exceptional Canadian, rock on). Campaigns need to get into video clips, like the McGuinty Liberals did last fall. (I made an amateur attempt last week.)

UPDATE: Now with video:



FURTHER UPDATE: Aaron Ginsberg of All Politics is Local was there too and adds his thoughts. And Dan too, with the top ten list.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers