Strategic Voting Link-Fest

In Canada during every election, strategic voting comes up, with people arguing passionately on either side.

Well, things are different this time. Strategic voting has never had the Internet and social media backing that it does now. Canadians are connected as never before and many of them clearly see the threats that a Harper majority represents.

And some people have been working for months to get ready for this.

A member of CRUSH, Michele MacKay, has been on it.

GREAT NEWS FOR STRATEGIC VOTING! I have just finished comparing both Catch 22 and Project Democracy riding by riding, and they have picked the same candidate in every single riding except one (Beauport-Limoilou.) The fact the two sites arrived at the exact same picks completely independently of the other proves they're solid: We can take them to the polls!

IMPORTANT NOTE: the riding projections are up to date on PD, but they are still in the process of updating their candidate picks. Meantime, look ONLY at the riding projections.

Both sites are recommending we check back in May before we go out to vote because things can still change in the last week.

Also, some are too close to call. Yet.

Other helpful sites include Election Prediction Project, which has 61 ridings too close to call.

ThreeHundredEight is tracking polls.

The CAW is following 50 key ridings.

And the ReformaTories are focussed -- when they're not focussed on the economy of course -- on 30 seats.

One more to round out this strategic voting link-fest: Swing 33 has identified 33 ridings where a financial donation could help tip the scales.

Final point: if you vote in one of these swinging ridings, wait until eday. Things change.

Do Not Vote Strategically

Unless you are prepared to spend a few minutes informing yourself. As Anonymous says here.

I'm sometimes shocked that even some progressives @ PB are talking out of their asses. You want to get rid of Harper, then vote strategic, but at least know what your doing!

Again, here are a couple of websites to get information: Catch 22 Harper Conservatives and Swing 33.

And if your vote really doesn't matter a damn -- as in most places in Alberta -- consider throwing a couple of bucks towards the Pirate Party by voting for them.

Or some other shit-disturbing entity of your choice.

Catch 22 Harper Conservatives

Wow, I haven't written about Catch 22 Harper Conservatives since March.

Here are the Campaign Objectives:

Had enough of the Conservatives, their political gamesmanship and abuse of power? We've seen this government side-step Parliament through prorogation, committee boycotts and stonewalling. We've witnessed unprecedented secrecy, limits on media access, brinkmanship, and outright untruths. Without real consequences for these abuses, why should we expect any change from our politicians?

Catch 22 Harper Conservatives is a grassroots campaign to provide real consequences for the Conservatives’ disrespect of voters and Parliament. The objective of the campaign is to organize voters into an electoral force that will:

1) Contribute to the defeat of the Conservative government. We can achieve this by targeting at least 22 vulnerable, sitting Conservative MPs across Canada (at least one MP for each day of prorogation!) To succeed, we are proposing on-the-ground campaigns in selected ridings to hand out pro-democracy literature - before an election is called.

2) Raise awareness about Canada's democratic deficit, including our antiquated first-past-the-post voting system. The Conservatives aren't the first party in Canada to abuse their authority. We need a game-changer to improve accountability, transparency, representation and advance democracy.

Here are the targetted ridings/incumbents:

British Columbia
Kamloops–Thompson–Cariboo, Cathy McLeod
North Vancouver, Andrew Saxton
Surry North, Dona Cadman
Vancouver Island North, John Duncan

Prairies
Saskatoon–Rosetown–Biggar, Kelly Block
Palliser, Roy Boughen
Saint Boniface, Shelley Glover

Ontario
Brant, Phil McColeman
Essex, Jeff Watson
Haldimand–Norfolk, Diane Finley
Huron–Bruce, Benjamin Lobb
Kenora, Greg Rickford
Kitchener–Waterloo, Peter Braid
Kitchener Centre, Stephen Woodworth
London West, Ed Holder
Mississauga–Erindale, Bob Dechert
Oakville, Terence Young
Oshawa, Collin Carrie
Ottawa–Orléans, Royal Galipeau
Ottawa West –Nepan, John Baird

Quebec
Beauport–Limoilou, Sylvie Boucher
Pontiac, Lawrence Cannon
Roberval–Lac-Saint-Jean, Denis Lebel

Atlantic Canada
Fredericton, Keith Ashfield
Miramichi, Tilly O'Neill-Gordon
Saint John, Rodney Weston
South Shore–St. Margaret's,Gerald Keddy
West Nova, Greg Kerr
Egmont, Gail Shea

North
Nunavut, Leona Aglukkaq

There are now local groups in the various ridings. Most are small yet, but the most popular one has 13 members.

I've said it before -- the Opposition is fucking useless. We have to do this ourselves.

Is your riding -- or one nearby -- on the list? Maybe you've got friends or relatives in the targetted ridings who need to know about this campaign.

Spread far and wide.

Canada can't take much more of this:

CRUSH Goes Local, now with Paranoid Update

CRUSH, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, is gaining momentum. From its Facebook wall:

Remember CRUSHERS, we have 3 ads in play this weekend.
1. The Calgary Herald (Mr. Harper’s riding)
2. The KW Record (hitting two Catch 22 ridings at once, that of Peter Braid and Stephen Woodworth)
3. A locally funded initiative in the Comox Valley Echo News that targets the Catch 22 riding of John Duncan.

Thank you all for making this happen. Work is progressing on future ads.

CRUSH is the totally grassroots campaign to place ads focusing on Stevie's record and 'trustability'. Originally, the plan was to run huge ads nationally. There was munny enough only for a smallish ad in last Saturday's Star.

Going local is a good idea. We all know the state of newspapers. Apparently, local CRUSHers were able to negotiate some good rates. And people read their local papers. CRUSHers hope these ads will get them talking.

The CRUSH site has downloadable PDFs, tips, and, of course, a way to donate. CRUSH hopes to continue to raise munny to funnel to the local groups and when I get my MASSIVE tax refund, I'm going to send them some more.

What's that reference to Catch 22 ridings, you ask?

Here's one of its organizers explaining at Rabble:

The Catch 22 Harper Conservatives strategy is to target winnable ridings with weak Conservative incumbents, recruit volunteers and communicate with voters before the next election is called. The main premise is that an informed electorate will vote in their own interests, and not strictly in the interests of political parties, politicians and lobby groups. The strategy will benefit some opposition candidates from the NDP, Liberals and possibly the Bloc while remaining independent of them.

Here are the 22 targetted ridings. Are you in one? Near one?

Now, while we're on the subject of targetting, the US National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws is going to make sure that those Blue Dog Democrats who so royally screwed the healthcare reform dealie over abortion PAY.

NARAL Pro-Choice America, which endorsed Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) primary challenger Wednesday, is eyeing other Democratic incumbents, too.

NARAL joined Planned Parenthood in backing former Charlevoix County Commissioner Connie Saltonstall in her weeks-old primary challenge to Stupak, a pro-life Democrat who inflamed party activists by holding out for abortion language in the recently passed healthcare bill.

But the group isn't done yet. Asked whether other Democrats who joined with Stupak or opposed the bill should be concerned, NARAL political director Elizabeth Shipp said, "Definitely."

I asked if NARAL was eyeing anyone specifically.

"Yes, but none that I'm ready to talk about yet," Shipp said.

I realize we don't have a primary system here, but man, it would be sweet to 'NARAL' these Harper Liberals:

Paul Szabo in Mississauga South

Dan McTeague in Pickering-Scarborough East

John McKay in Scarborough Guildwood.

Hmm, maybe my MASSIVE tax refund will stretch to funding NDP or Green opponents of these guys. Anybody know who might be running in these ridings?

PARANOID UPDATE:

CRUSH ADMIN NOTE: We have had bad news about the Calgary Herald. It appears from member feedback that the ad did not appear despite assurances that it would and, to add insult to injury, we have been charged twice for the ad. We have been attempting to contact the Calgary Herald all day but it will not be possible to speak with anyone in charge of this until Monday-we will keep you posted and rectify the situation as soon as possible.

Catch 22

This is a great idea -- Catch 22 Harper Conservatives.

From the brand-spanky-new website:

Had enough of the Conservatives, their political gamesmanship and abuse of power? We've seen this government side-step Parliament through prorogation, committee boycotts and stonewalling. We've witnessed unprecedented secrecy, limits on media access, brinkmanship, and outright untruths. Without real consequences for these abuses, why should we expect any change from our politicians?

The grassroots organizers have been working on this for a while, analyzing voting records to come up with 22 vulnerable ReformaTory seats.

Go to the site and see if your MP -- or one near you -- is on the list and find out how you can help.

Spread the word.