A tour of NDP leadership candidates hospitality suites was not a booze and bounty extravaganza but gave a pretty good sense of where the momentum is.
Thomas Mulcair’s people were smart enough to get a spacious suite in the Intercontinental Hotel adjacent to the conference site at The Toronto Convention Centre. Mulcair’s event was as close as anybody came to slick, an occasional canapé was carried by, a few free drinks could be found but mostly it was a stylish setting jam packed with supporters and those still considering their options.
Campaign co-chair Lorne Nystrom, an NDP force was happy to tell anyone why his man was the only choice. Mulcair worked the crowd like a statesman with a common touch.
Nathan Cullen’s people had the location right, Joe Badali’s just down the street but the awkward affair felt like the Dippers were crowding into someone else’s event. A befuddled greeter not connected with Cullen attempted to direct people with promises of “a couple of pizzas” to come as slightly confused folks sparsely gathered around tables in one over lit corner of the bar.
One wonders why Peggy Nash, Paul Dewar and Brian Topp’s people couldn’t get three crappy suites close to the convention instead of inexplicably jamming into crappy suites at the Sheraton across from City Hall. It was strange one stop shopping as three adjacent suites on the hotel’s fourth floor meant the parties all spilled out into the packed hallway and each other. Not a lot of glamour but plenty of chatter though only Paul Dewar was glad-handing when I was there.
As free bars ran dry, supporters charged off and returned with cases of suds for thirsty NDPers.
In addition to the expected committed voters, plenty of NDPers were still contemplating their choices at all the events. First and second choices were part of everyone’s contemplation but in room after room the emerging consensus, whether spoken or implied, was that Mulcair has got it.
The question is how many ballots before Mulcair can be ready to take on Stephen Harper as soon as next week when the federal budget drops.
And once the first round of voting is tallied, convention floor crafted alliances can always result in a strange breakthrough though, based on unscientifically trolling the suites, that would seem unlikely
