Elections forums good way to judge candidates

Election forums are as much about forming gut feelings about candidates as they are for getting information on how they stand on specific policy matters. Last night’s chamber of commerce forum was the first chance I’ve had to see all the candidates in one room.

The chamber forums are tightly controlled and designed to avoid any impoliteness either from candidates or the audience. I sat on the question-vetting committee, which is the second time I’ve done so at a chamber forum, and it gives y0u a good idea of what people are thinking about.

I spent quite a bit of time studying the manner of the candidates, though, and left with some definite impressions. The most polished were the old political warhorses, Kevin Krueger and Terry Lake, but Tom Friedman — the NDP candidate running against Krueger — is very articulate.

Most disappointing is Doug Brown. Despite the fact he’s run previously both at the municipal and provincial levels, the microphone is not his friend. He tends to be stiff and uncomfortable, relying on written notes whenever he can.

April Snowe, the young Green running in Kamloops-North Thompson, is pleasingly well-spoken, while her counterpart in Kamloops-South Thompson, Bev Markle, comes across as a little nervous and intense.

Keston Broughton, the Work Less Party candidate, showed up late wearing a bathrobe, and I’m not at all sure what message he was trying to get across with that. Every election seems to have a class clown, and this time it’s Broughton, who’s engaging in a way but has no business running.

Wayne Russell of the B.C. Refederation Party, is good for an occasional chuckle but not even remotely a serious candidate. Before this election, who’d ever heard of his party, or Broughton’s?

When asked if he thought water is a human right, Russell didn’t get it. He answered in the affirmative offered no comment — clearly he isn’t tuned in to the real debate about whether water is a right or a commodity.

Lake showed a brief flash of his celebrated temper when the NDP crowd at the front of the room started lobbing a few verbal stones at him during his answers. He grumbled about getting no respect, to which one non-supporter suggested it was something he, too, should demonstrate.

Lake treads a fine line between feistiness and looking thin-skinned, and if he keeps grousing about the way he’s treated at forums he’s going to look more like the latter than the former.

Based on last night’s forum, there’s a lot more interest in this campaign than the pundits are suggesting, and Thursday night’s media forum (Daily News, TV7, Kamloops This Week, with TRU) at TRU’s Grand Hall is going to be very lively, indeed. Moderator Bill O’Donovan could have his hands full.

It gets start at 7 p.m.