Ottawa Catch-up.....

Some quick hits on Ottawa happenings that have made the news this week while I was too busy to blog....

Ignatieff hires new Chief of Staff - I only know Peter Donolo by reputation but his is one of competence, good-humour, and dedication. While I rarely will be confused for a partisan Liberal, I sincerely do hope that this helps put the Official Opposition on a track where they will be seen as a credible alternative to the government. The longer I watch politics, the more I am convinced that a prerequisite for good government is the existence of a viable alternative.

Cheque Scandal doesn't impact polls - Some seem surprised that the stimulus money "scandal" hasn't affected the polls, with the new EKOS poll this morning showing the Conservative lead holding. Given that the scandal amounted to Conservatives being blamed for taking too much credit for spending the stimulus money with oversized promotion cheques and aggressive lobbying by MPs for projects in their ridings, the fact this scandal did not get traction is hardly a surprise. When it comes to government decisions of spending money or making appointments etc., the public understands that when a choice needs to be made between Option A and B, both of which are credible choices, politicians are likely to make choices that favour their friends and supporters. The scandal comes when such choices are made when one of the options is not a credible option, when cronies get appointed to positions for which they are not qualified, or when money is spent on projects that are not worthwhile. To date, there has been no serious allegation that money has been misspent on projects that are not worthwhile, hence there is no scandal to get traction.

What people are talking about - A busy week has just passed in which my usual reading of the daily news and keeping up on things political proved impossible given my other commitments. It is a useful reminder for how non-political junkies take in the news. Trying to catch up a bit this morning, I notice eight columns on Nationalnewswatch dealing with the Donolo appointment. I read all of them and scanned the blogs to get the range of opinion on this and the other tactical decisions being made within each of the parties, but during the past week in which I had many conversations with many people that regarded things political, no one asked or commented except in the most obscure way on "inside baseball" aspects of politics. The economy, swine flu, and leadership are the issues which kept coming up in my day to day conversations, and after getting through the headlines on each, my conversation partners were more interested in talking about the events of everyday life, usually family, faith, and friends and change. (I suspect my sample was coloured by the fact that I attended a number of church-related meetings undoubtedly. I suspect if my sampling was less religiously biased, the topic trifecta would be family, friends, and entertainment.) It was striking reflecting on the several coffee break and water cooler conversations I had with people I know but don't see regularly, how the topics that interest them are disproportionately local (first hand connections - they talk about people or things they have personal knowledge of) and involve change (people tend to be excited by change and the opportunities it presents - most often work-related -- but also apprehensive of change.

No great surprise but a useful reminder for those of us who dabble in the political marketing game. Political "insider baseball" is important for understanding what is going on, like knowing how pistons work is important for a mechanic fixing a car. But most of us don't ask about the pistons when we buy the car.