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NDP report calls for more ‘bloody-minded campaign’ next time around
Internal post-mortem gives extensive analysis of how party lost spring election despite leading in the polls
Playing nice during the 2013 election was a dismal failure, and in the next election the NDP must run “a more aggressive, bloody-minded campaign,” says an internal document penned by Adrian Dix’s campaign leader.
The 40-page post-mortem is a blunt, extensive analysis of how the NDP lost the spring election despite being ahead in the polls, and what the party needs to do differently four years from now.
The Sun obtained a copy of the document, written by NDP campaign director Brian Topp, who took responsibility for his part in the election loss, noting the entire campaign team played a role in the final outcome.
A better finish for the NDP next time, he writes, will require major changes to how campaign 2013 was run, including: defeating or at least matching the Liberals on economic issues; offering a platform that engages people and makes them want to vote; and criticizing opponents, rather than the more principled route of attacking policies but not people.
“The Liberals prosecuted us better than we prosecuted them,” Topp wrote.
“While the B.C. Liberals attacked our leader in personal and sometimes arguably libellous terms, the premier and her record in government were often off limits. This was a mistake.”
Topp, who was personally recruited by Dix to run the campaign, sent the analysis to NDP brass, who are conducting a review of what went wrong during the election. He wrote it with four members of his campaign team, many of whom worked with him on Jack Layton’s successful federal campaign.
Topp declined to comment on the report, saying it spoke for itself. Party president Moe Sihota did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The Sun obtained two copies of the document: a draft written in June and the final version dated Aug. 21.
Dix’s office told The Sun the draft document “did not accurately capture a number of significant elements of the campaign’s planning and execution” and was withdrawn from the review panel. However, The Sun found the two versions contained the same key messages.
Topp praises Dix for taking a fractured party and building it into a cohesive machine that almost upset the incumbent Liberals.
However, Dix was also an easy target for the Liberals’ attack ads: He resigned as former Premier Glen Clark’s chief of staff in 1999 after backdating a memo that was intended to protect Clark, who was accused of helping a friend get a provincial casino licence.
The NDP did not counter these attacks with similar criticisms of Premier Christy Clark because Dix wanted to run a positive, principled campaign. The end result, Topp wrote, is that the Liberals raised serious doubts about Dix and Clark was “exonerated” from any past misdeeds because the NDP didn’t talk about them.
For example, the NDP in February lambasted the Liberals in the legislature for their “quick wins” strategy targeting ethnic voters, at a time when many senior Clark ministers and staff were quitting. At the time, Dix’s criticism of the Liberals bumped the NDP ahead 20 points in public opinion polls — but this scandal was never mentioned during the election.
“A more aggressive, bloody-minded campaign than the one we conducted would have nonetheless acted on the traditional political principle that the best time to kick your opponent is when they are down,” Topp wrote.
“By deciding never to ‘name the enemy’ by never mentioning Christy Clark, our campaign lost the opportunity to work with the B.C. Liberals’ greatest liability — their leader.”
Topp and his team say they also failed to counteract the Liberals’ main message that it is too risky to change governments in uncertain economic times. The NDP must improve at arguing its party has better policies on job creation and is more caring about core fiscal issues. |
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發表於 2013-9-20 07:14
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