Who cares what Jack Layton was wearing?

It would seem that some New Democrats are disappointed I described what people were wearing when Jack Layton came to town last week rather than writing about what he had to say. I should be writing about policies and issues, they said.

I write a lot about policies and issues, but when I attend the same event as one of our reporters, I prefer to write about my impressions of the event rather than the message.

The City’s public hearing on affordable housing is an example. There was no use in me repeating what our reporter wrote, so I got into the whys and wherefores of what was being said, attempting to go beyond the news story. In the case of the Layton town hall, I was interested in why he is the only leader to come to Kamloops this election, at least so far.

I actually think it’s admirable when a leader shows up in Kamloops even when his candidate is not a favourite. What Layton had to say was pretty much what he’d been saying for the past few days, so readers didn’t miss out on anything from the fact I left it to our reporter to replay his words.

I also wanted to put the visit into the context of expectations for how things will play out in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo. While I did make reference to the casual dress of those in the room — including Layton — it was simply one more way of putting the meeting into visual terms.

Forgive a slight digression from the dreariness of political rhetoric.