I love it when an opponent is, you know, honest. My hat’s off, therefore, to putative star Ontario PC candidate Jeff Allan, who candidly admits Tim Hudak’s Tea Party North his heading towards the Electoral Valley of Death in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election:
“Jeff Allan, the populist talk-radio host for 570 News (he hosts a very entertaining call-in show called The Hour of Rage) had publicly mused about running for the Conservatives, so I checked in with him.
Allan likes to talk, as you’d expect from someone who makes a living from barely pausing for breath. He talked about how he would have to take a leave of absence from his day job if he ran. He had just decided, five minutes before I called him, that he wouldn’t try for the prize after all. “I don’t know if I’m mature enough!” he said. “I don’t know if this is a winnable seat right now. I’m not going to give up everything I have, to be — humiliated!”
If Hudak were clever he’d give Flaherty, Baird and Clement a call and persuade them to persuade Harper to five federal appointments to one or two Liberals who represent ridings that are Tory federally or otherwise thought to be winnable.
That doesn’t necessarily mean he thinks he can’t win. Perhaps the humiliation he meant was being part of Tea Party Tim’s caucus.
Kitchener-Waterloo doesn’t like Hudak. Its that simple. This by-election is going to be a referendum on his leadership. If he can’t win urban ridings like Kitchener-Waterloo, he can’t be Premier. Its that simple.
My prediction: Hudak out…