Danielle Smith Launches Charm Attack In Alberta United Conservative Party Leadership Race

After weeks of heated rhetoric in the United Conservative Party leadership race, presumptive champion Danielle Smith is trying to calm things down in Alberta. Smith uses a charm offensive specifically geared to win over the party’s complex preferential voting system. It’s a strategy based on math and human nature, as well as lessons learned from past leadership races. Smith is not so much trying to woo supporters from the other camps as she is trying to plant seeds in their minds, hoping they will bear fruit later. On Thursday, she issued a statement calling for party unity and released a video segment praising each of her rivals, including her rival in the race, former Treasury Secretary Travis Tuss. “People see him as a person of integrity,” said Smith, who recently accused Toews of using “smear” tactics against her. “He has thought hard about how we could have a provincial police force and an Alberta pension plan, and I look forward to working with him to implement them.” He applauded Brian Jean’s plan to lower the price of petrol, called Rebecca Schulz a “young talent”, supported Rajan Sawhney’s call for a public inquiry into the response to COVID-19, described Leela Aheer as “wonderful” and called Todd Loewen “one of my favorite people.” Smith looked very much like a prime minister waiting to announce her picks for a new cabinet. (Smith even had nice words for former Liberal leader Raj Sherman, suggesting her video was recorded before she denied Sherman permission to enter the race last month.) Smith is doing all this because she wants to be seen, of course, as a party unifier, but also, more strategically, because of the vagaries of the UCP’s privileged electoral system. On the ballot, party members rank the candidates numerically in order of preference. The ballots will be counted on October 6. If a candidate wins a majority on the first count, the race is over. However, with seven people in the race, a first-ballot victory is unlikely. So, if no one wins on the first count, the last-place candidate drops out of the race, and the ballots for that candidate are counted again by looking at the second choice on those ballots. The votes are then distributed among the surviving candidates. This process will continue until one candidate wins a majority of votes. This means that the pioneers will depend on the support of members in the “lost” camps. That’s why Smith, who is the perceived alpha in the race, is trying to butter up those outside her camp. Her charm attack targets everyone, just in case. He could well need votes from many other camps to win. Playing in the background of this leadership race is a specific race from the past: the 2006 Progressive Conservative leadership contest, where good politician Ed Stelmach rocketed from third place to winner. The race 16 years ago is both a model and a cautionary tale for candidates today. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach reacts after winning his leadership challenge with 77.4% at the Alberta PC Party annual meeting in Red Deer, Alta., Saturday, November 7, 2009. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) He is a role model for Sawhney, Schulz and Aheer, who know they are not frontrunners but try to “pull a Stelmach” by being everyone’s second choice. It’s a cautionary tale for today’s frontrunners who remember how Jim Dinning, the clear favorite in 2006, doomed his campaign by deliberately sharpening his attacks on his nemesis, Ted Morton. When Morton was dropped from the race and his supporters’ ballots were counted, 26,000 went to Stelmach while only 4,000 went to Dinning. The UCP’s preferential voting system is different from the old PC race in some important respects. In 2006, for example, people could join the party and vote until the last minute. That helped Stelmach, who in the final days of the campaign reached out to people of Ukrainian descent living in northeastern Alberta. The UCP, however, halted membership sales on August 12, almost two months before the October 6 vote. Candidates try to target specific groups of people, whether they are based on geography, ethnicity or ideology. But only Smith seems to be having success as she runs a campaign focused on anger — anger about everything from the federal government to the Kenney administration to pandemic restrictions in particular and the health care system in general. But there is no anger when we talk about her competition. Her official campaign slogan may be “Alberta First,” but her unofficial slogan is just one word: respect. In Wednesday’s email, she said: “Our party will remain united with respect for the grassroots and for each other,” and added that she “looks forward to continuing to work” with her rivals in the race “when I become leader.” At the very least, she’s trying to stop the race from turning into an anyone-but-Smith scenario where candidates conspire to derail her or where members vote strategically to defeat her. Smith may be taking a flamethrower to Alberta politics with policies designed to ignite outrage, but when it comes to the cold, hard math of winning a preferential vote, she turns up the air conditioner.

title: “Danielle Smith Launches Charm Attack In Alberta United Conservative Party Leadership Race Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-29” author: “Jack Royal”

After weeks of heated rhetoric in the United Conservative Party leadership race, presumptive champion Danielle Smith is trying to calm things down in Alberta. Smith uses a charm offensive specifically geared to win over the party’s complex preferential voting system. It’s a strategy based on math and human nature, as well as lessons learned from past leadership races. Smith is not so much trying to woo supporters from the other camps as she is trying to plant seeds in their minds, hoping they will bear fruit later. On Thursday, she issued a statement calling for party unity and released a video segment praising each of her rivals, including her rival in the race, former Treasury Secretary Travis Tuss. “People see him as a person of integrity,” said Smith, who recently accused Toews of using “smear” tactics against her. “He has thought hard about how we could have a provincial police force and an Alberta pension plan, and I look forward to working with him to implement them.” He applauded Brian Jean’s plan to lower the price of petrol, called Rebecca Schulz a “young talent”, supported Rajan Sawhney’s call for a public inquiry into the response to COVID-19, described Leela Aheer as “wonderful” and called Todd Loewen “one of my favorite people.” Smith looked very much like a prime minister waiting to announce her picks for a new cabinet. (Smith even had nice words for former Liberal leader Raj Sherman, suggesting her video was recorded before she denied Sherman permission to enter the race last month.) Smith is doing all this because she wants to be seen, of course, as a party unifier, but also, more strategically, because of the vagaries of the UCP’s privileged electoral system. On the ballot, party members rank the candidates numerically in order of preference. The ballots will be counted on October 6. If a candidate wins a majority on the first count, the race is over. However, with seven people in the race, a first-ballot victory is unlikely. So, if no one wins on the first count, the last-place candidate drops out of the race, and the ballots for that candidate are counted again by looking at the second choice on those ballots. The votes are then distributed among the surviving candidates. This process will continue until one candidate wins a majority of votes. This means that the pioneers will depend on the support of members in the “lost” camps. That’s why Smith, who is the perceived alpha in the race, is trying to butter up those outside her camp. Her charm attack targets everyone, just in case. He could well need votes from many other camps to win. Playing in the background of this leadership race is a specific race from the past: the 2006 Progressive Conservative leadership contest, where good politician Ed Stelmach rocketed from third place to winner. The race 16 years ago is both a model and a cautionary tale for candidates today. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach reacts after winning his leadership challenge with 77.4% at the Alberta PC Party annual meeting in Red Deer, Alta., Saturday, November 7, 2009. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) He is a role model for Sawhney, Schulz and Aheer, who know they are not frontrunners but try to “pull a Stelmach” by being everyone’s second choice. It’s a cautionary tale for today’s frontrunners who remember how Jim Dinning, the clear favorite in 2006, doomed his campaign by deliberately sharpening his attacks on his nemesis, Ted Morton. When Morton was dropped from the race and his supporters’ ballots were counted, 26,000 went to Stelmach while only 4,000 went to Dinning. The UCP’s preferential voting system is different from the old PC race in some important respects. In 2006, for example, people could join the party and vote until the last minute. That helped Stelmach, who in the final days of the campaign reached out to people of Ukrainian descent living in northeastern Alberta. The UCP, however, halted membership sales on August 12, almost two months before the October 6 vote. Candidates try to target specific groups of people, whether they are based on geography, ethnicity or ideology. But only Smith seems to be having success as she runs a campaign focused on anger — anger about everything from the federal government to the Kenney administration to pandemic restrictions in particular and the health care system in general. But there is no anger when we talk about her competition. Her official campaign slogan may be “Alberta First,” but her unofficial slogan is just one word: respect. In Wednesday’s email, she said: “Our party will remain united with respect for the grassroots and for each other,” and added that she “looks forward to continuing to work” with her rivals in the race “when I become leader.” At the very least, she’s trying to stop the race from turning into an anyone-but-Smith scenario where candidates conspire to derail her or where members vote strategically to defeat her. Smith may be taking a flamethrower to Alberta politics with policies designed to ignite outrage, but when it comes to the cold, hard math of winning a preferential vote, she turns up the air conditioner.

title: “Danielle Smith Launches Charm Attack In Alberta United Conservative Party Leadership Race Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-15” author: “John Miele”

After weeks of heated rhetoric in the United Conservative Party leadership race, presumptive champion Danielle Smith is trying to calm things down in Alberta. Smith uses a charm offensive specifically geared to win over the party’s complex preferential voting system. It’s a strategy based on math and human nature, as well as lessons learned from past leadership races. Smith is not so much trying to woo supporters from the other camps as she is trying to plant seeds in their minds, hoping they will bear fruit later. On Thursday, she issued a statement calling for party unity and released a video segment praising each of her rivals, including her rival in the race, former Treasury Secretary Travis Tuss. “People see him as a person of integrity,” said Smith, who recently accused Toews of using “smear” tactics against her. “He has thought hard about how we could have a provincial police force and an Alberta pension plan, and I look forward to working with him to implement them.” He applauded Brian Jean’s plan to lower the price of petrol, called Rebecca Schulz a “young talent”, supported Rajan Sawhney’s call for a public inquiry into the response to COVID-19, described Leela Aheer as “wonderful” and called Todd Loewen “one of my favorite people.” Smith looked very much like a prime minister waiting to announce her picks for a new cabinet. (Smith even had nice words for former Liberal leader Raj Sherman, suggesting her video was recorded before she denied Sherman permission to enter the race last month.) Smith is doing all this because she wants to be seen, of course, as a party unifier, but also, more strategically, because of the vagaries of the UCP’s privileged electoral system. On the ballot, party members rank the candidates numerically in order of preference. The ballots will be counted on October 6. If a candidate wins a majority on the first count, the race is over. However, with seven people in the race, a first-ballot victory is unlikely. So, if no one wins on the first count, the last-place candidate drops out of the race, and the ballots for that candidate are counted again by looking at the second choice on those ballots. The votes are then distributed among the surviving candidates. This process will continue until one candidate wins a majority of votes. This means that the pioneers will depend on the support of members in the “lost” camps. That’s why Smith, who is the perceived alpha in the race, is trying to butter up those outside her camp. Her charm attack targets everyone, just in case. He could well need votes from many other camps to win. Playing in the background of this leadership race is a specific race from the past: the 2006 Progressive Conservative leadership contest, where good politician Ed Stelmach rocketed from third place to winner. The race 16 years ago is both a model and a cautionary tale for candidates today. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach reacts after winning his leadership challenge with 77.4% at the Alberta PC Party annual meeting in Red Deer, Alta., Saturday, November 7, 2009. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) He is a role model for Sawhney, Schulz and Aheer, who know they are not frontrunners but try to “pull a Stelmach” by being everyone’s second choice. It’s a cautionary tale for today’s frontrunners who remember how Jim Dinning, the clear favorite in 2006, doomed his campaign by deliberately sharpening his attacks on his nemesis, Ted Morton. When Morton was dropped from the race and his supporters’ ballots were counted, 26,000 went to Stelmach while only 4,000 went to Dinning. The UCP’s preferential voting system is different from the old PC race in some important respects. In 2006, for example, people could join the party and vote until the last minute. That helped Stelmach, who in the final days of the campaign reached out to people of Ukrainian descent living in northeastern Alberta. The UCP, however, halted membership sales on August 12, almost two months before the October 6 vote. Candidates try to target specific groups of people, whether they are based on geography, ethnicity or ideology. But only Smith seems to be having success as she runs a campaign focused on anger — anger about everything from the federal government to the Kenney administration to pandemic restrictions in particular and the health care system in general. But there is no anger when we talk about her competition. Her official campaign slogan may be “Alberta First,” but her unofficial slogan is just one word: respect. In Wednesday’s email, she said: “Our party will remain united with respect for the grassroots and for each other,” and added that she “looks forward to continuing to work” with her rivals in the race “when I become leader.” At the very least, she’s trying to stop the race from turning into an anyone-but-Smith scenario where candidates conspire to derail her or where members vote strategically to defeat her. Smith may be taking a flamethrower to Alberta politics with policies designed to ignite outrage, but when it comes to the cold, hard math of winning a preferential vote, she turns up the air conditioner.

title: “Danielle Smith Launches Charm Attack In Alberta United Conservative Party Leadership Race Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-31” author: “Benjamin Beauprez”

After weeks of heated rhetoric in the United Conservative Party leadership race, presumptive champion Danielle Smith is trying to calm things down in Alberta. Smith uses a charm offensive specifically geared to win over the party’s complex preferential voting system. It’s a strategy based on math and human nature, as well as lessons learned from past leadership races. Smith is not so much trying to woo supporters from the other camps as she is trying to plant seeds in their minds, hoping they will bear fruit later. On Thursday, she issued a statement calling for party unity and released a video segment praising each of her rivals, including her rival in the race, former Treasury Secretary Travis Tuss. “People see him as a person of integrity,” said Smith, who recently accused Toews of using “smear” tactics against her. “He has thought hard about how we could have a provincial police force and an Alberta pension plan, and I look forward to working with him to implement them.” He applauded Brian Jean’s plan to lower the price of petrol, called Rebecca Schulz a “young talent”, supported Rajan Sawhney’s call for a public inquiry into the response to COVID-19, described Leela Aheer as “wonderful” and called Todd Loewen “one of my favorite people.” Smith looked very much like a prime minister waiting to announce her picks for a new cabinet. (Smith even had nice words for former Liberal leader Raj Sherman, suggesting her video was recorded before she denied Sherman permission to enter the race last month.) Smith is doing all this because she wants to be seen, of course, as a party unifier, but also, more strategically, because of the vagaries of the UCP’s privileged electoral system. On the ballot, party members rank the candidates numerically in order of preference. The ballots will be counted on October 6. If a candidate wins a majority on the first count, the race is over. However, with seven people in the race, a first-ballot victory is unlikely. So, if no one wins on the first count, the last-place candidate drops out of the race, and the ballots for that candidate are counted again by looking at the second choice on those ballots. The votes are then distributed among the surviving candidates. This process will continue until one candidate wins a majority of votes. This means that the pioneers will depend on the support of members in the “lost” camps. That’s why Smith, who is the perceived alpha in the race, is trying to butter up those outside her camp. Her charm attack targets everyone, just in case. He could well need votes from many other camps to win. Playing in the background of this leadership race is a specific race from the past: the 2006 Progressive Conservative leadership contest, where good politician Ed Stelmach rocketed from third place to winner. The race 16 years ago is both a model and a cautionary tale for candidates today. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach reacts after winning his leadership challenge with 77.4% at the Alberta PC Party annual meeting in Red Deer, Alta., Saturday, November 7, 2009. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) He is a role model for Sawhney, Schulz and Aheer, who know they are not frontrunners but try to “pull a Stelmach” by being everyone’s second choice. It’s a cautionary tale for today’s frontrunners who remember how Jim Dinning, the clear favorite in 2006, doomed his campaign by deliberately sharpening his attacks on his nemesis, Ted Morton. When Morton was dropped from the race and his supporters’ ballots were counted, 26,000 went to Stelmach while only 4,000 went to Dinning. The UCP’s preferential voting system is different from the old PC race in some important respects. In 2006, for example, people could join the party and vote until the last minute. That helped Stelmach, who in the final days of the campaign reached out to people of Ukrainian descent living in northeastern Alberta. The UCP, however, halted membership sales on August 12, almost two months before the October 6 vote. Candidates try to target specific groups of people, whether they are based on geography, ethnicity or ideology. But only Smith seems to be having success as she runs a campaign focused on anger — anger about everything from the federal government to the Kenney administration to pandemic restrictions in particular and the health care system in general. But there is no anger when we talk about her competition. Her official campaign slogan may be “Alberta First,” but her unofficial slogan is just one word: respect. In Wednesday’s email, she said: “Our party will remain united with respect for the grassroots and for each other,” and added that she “looks forward to continuing to work” with her rivals in the race “when I become leader.” At the very least, she’s trying to stop the race from turning into an anyone-but-Smith scenario where candidates conspire to derail her or where members vote strategically to defeat her. Smith may be taking a flamethrower to Alberta politics with policies designed to ignite outrage, but when it comes to the cold, hard math of winning a preferential vote, she turns up the air conditioner.