Second Ballot

The second ballot results have sent the Iggy people into apoplectic shock.

Looking at the candidate on TV he looks visibly shaken. I think he should compose himself and take this moment to reflect and enjoy the experience. After all, after this vote it will be a long time before he sees his name on a ballot again (barring of course the annual sexiest professor poll at Harvard – his name goes on that ballot the minute he signs his new contract). It’s times like this that a candidate should show grace under pressure and I think it was beneath Iggy to accuse Gerard Kennedy of committing a war crime by throwing his support to Dion.

The Ignatieff delegates I’ve been talking to have that tragic air of someone in palliative care eating apple sauce and making big plans to run a marathon.

It’s understandable that the Ignatieff people are having a hard time dealing with this; they felt that Iggy actually winning this thing was just a technicality. Now they are willing to grasp at any straw available. Soon after the second ballot results came in an Ignatieff delegate grabbed me and waved his blackberry in my face and shouted “Dryden is about to announce he’s supporting Iggy.” The words were not out of his mouth before another delegate started waving his blackberry around shouting “Dryden went to Rae.”

In this room if you wave your blackberry around as you speak it carries the same weight as waving a bible around at an evangelical conference. It’s in the good blackberry it must be true!

The only guy having a good day at this point is the soon-to-be leader of the opposition Stephane Dion.