Public opinion polls tell the tale

I’m looking forward to receiving the results of a Mustel Group poll for release tomorrow on the local federal race in Kamloops Thompson Cariboo. Once again The Daily News and TV7 have teamed up to commission the poll.

Candidates who top such polls always feel it reflects reality. Those who are behindl take the position that “the only poll that counts is the one on election day.” It must be disheartening for a candidate who has been working hard gathering support to suddenly find it’s not happening.

Polls are, as they say, a snapshot, but when properly conducted they give an excellent indication of what’s going on. At the national level, because so many different races are going on at the same time, election day still holds many surprises. But when it comes down to an individual riding, a scientific poll can be very accurate.

While I anticipate a large number of voters remaining undecided at this point, fact is that undecided voters usually cast their ballots in similar proportions to decideds.

Meanwhile, the weekend was busy, to say the least, with events going on all over town. We attended the Rotary’s Oktoberfest on Saturday night at the Columbo Lodge and the place was packed.

It’s always bugged me when politicians accept door prizes at such events. It’s my view that it is both politically practical, and consistent with community spirit, for community leaders to decline such prizes and return them to charity. So I was pleased when mayoral candidate Peter Milobar bought tickets on a number of raffle baskets and, when his name was drawn for one of them, turned it down.

Instead, Milobar suggested the basket, valued at about $125 retail, be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Tangalle tsunami project. And then, Coun. John DeCicco outbid everyone else and paid $175 for the basket. Good for them.

I thought there might be some kind of unholy political alliance in the works when I saw council candidate Kevin Skrepnek — former constituency assistant to Betty Hinton — sitting at Liberal candidate Ken Sommerfeld’s table. They assured me, however, that such was not the case. They were simply there to support the event.

Reminder of the media-sponsored forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the TRU Campus Activity Centre’s Grand Hall. The Daily News, TV7 and Kamloops This Week are teaming up with TRU to host the forum and it should be a great opportunity to listen to, and question, the four candidates: Conservative Cathy McLeod, Green candidate Donovan Cavers, Liberal Ken Sommerfeld and the NDP’s Michael Crawford.