Politics suddenly a contact sport

Written for publication in The Kamloops Daily News on Friday morning, May 8, 2009

Politics became a contact sport in Kamloops Thursday night.

As the media-sponsored provincial election forum ground its way through a raucous night of shouts, accusations, and jostling for political points — and that was the audience — things got a bit testy at times.

Maybe it was the rainy night, maybe it was the 2-1 loss by the Canucks to Chicago, maybe everybody is just tired and cranky as the campaign draws to an end.

Whatever it was, the mood of the evening was summed up when Doug Brown, carrying the flag for the NDP in Kamloops-North Thompson, was interrupted during an exchange on the carbon tax by Liberal candidate Terry Lake.

A frustrated Brown raised his hand and started tapping Lake on the shoulder, demanding that Lake be quiet while Brown had the mike.

Yes, folks, he made contact, not once, not twice but three times, by my count — a definite no-no.

“Don’t touch him!” warned a supporter near the front row. “You can’t touch him! He touched him!” she said in disbelief.

But Lake, who labours under a reputation as a politician with a temper, kept his cool, ignoring Brown’s transgression, not even brushing the wrinkles out of his sports coat, though he did waggle a finger in return.

Despite this brief role reversal, Brown scored some points as most improved debater. His performance in the TRU Grand Hall was night and day from his stiffness during Monday’s chamber of commerce forum in the smaller Executive Inn venue.

It was as if he felt freed by the more lenient rules of the media format, more at home with the thrust and parry than having to stick to straight-ahead answers.

When it was Lake’s turn, he acquitted himself well — while he’s known for having a low boiling point, he’s also acknowledged as having a firm schooling on issues.

Meanwhile, down at the Kamloops-South Thompson end of the table, incumbent Liberal Kevin Krueger and NDP challenger Tom Friedman squared off with allegations of untruth and incompetence.

Friedman’s rope trick was effective, but Krueger’s “give a man enough rope” zinger topped it.

Krueger, who scored the most questions, momentarily forgot he was at a candidates’ forum and instead thought he was back in the Legislature, gleefully taking on some hecklers in the front row, calling them “Jack Layton employees” with Toronto cell phone numbers. “Look at them hootin’ and hollererin’!” he taunted.

The Krueger-Friedman and Lake-Brown matches dominated the card, with the third-party candidates gamely using the new challenge system (each candidate was allowed to use five challenges to rebut another) in order to get time at the microphones.

Best performance there goes to Maria Dobi of the Conservatives, with the Greens’ April Snowe a close second. Her closing line alone merits some admiration for its fiestiness: “It’s not necessary,” she pronounced, “to vote for a party whose leader is a drunk driver, and it is not necessary to vote for a party that changes its policies more often than I change my hair colour.”

Snowe, as it happens, is a blonde, at least for now.

Who “won” depends on which party or candidate you favour, but most attendees appeared to appreciate the new format, which allowed for more one-on-one debate while still assuring time for plenty of questions.

After what many have called a terminally boring campaign, it was just what the doctor ordered for a new lease on life.