XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
      
   Why she will never attain leadership of the BC Liberals . . . .  the other   
   'Liberals' just   
   don't like her.   They've called her an "opportunist" that just keeps popping   
   up again and   
   again to reach for a power position.  Signing up all the cats and dogs of the   
   Liberals won't   
   save them in the next election.  They have history.  And it ain't good history.   
   ______________________________________   
      
   Globe and Mail Update - February 16, 2011   
      
   Clark scorns rivals' 'backroom deals'   
      
   Leadership front-runner appears unperturbed as Liberal caucus lines up behind   
   Falcon, Abbott   
   days ahead of vote   
   Increasingly isolated from the B.C. Liberal caucus, leadership candidate   
   Christy Clark   
   dismissed the latest MLA endorsements of her two main rivals as "backroom   
   deals" by party   
   insiders.   
      
   The perceived front-runner in the leadership contest, Ms. Clark has attracted   
   just one   
   government MLA to her team - backbencher Harry Bloy.   
      
   Ten days before Liberals vote on who will become British Columbia's next   
   premier, the round of   
   last-minute endorsements means almost the entire government caucus has divided   
   between the   
   camps of two contenders: Kevin Falcon, who has attracted the lion's share of   
   loyalists to   
   outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell; and George   
      
   Abbott, whose supporters mostly agree it was time for Mr. Campbell to go.   
      
   On Wednesday, Mr. Falcon signed up two more cabinet ministers, Ida Chong and   
   Margaret   
   MacDiarmid, bringing his total number of caucus supporters to 18. "Leadership   
   at the end of the   
   day is about demonstrating you can get people to follow you," he said, flanked   
   by both MLAs in   
   a legislature corridor.   
      
   Less than an hour later, Mr. Abbott held a news conference across the street,   
   packed with   
   cheering MLAs, to welcome his 19th caucus endorsement - Moira Stilwell. Dr.   
   Stilwell was the   
   first to enter the leadership race but bailed out on Wednesday, conceding that   
   she didn't stand   
   a chance of winning.   
      
   "I want to be of help to the person that I believe can unite the B.C. Liberals   
   and defeat the   
   NDP in 2013," she told reporters, "and that is George Abbott."   
      
   Her decision gives Mr. Abbott's campaign an important boost. Liberal members   
   will be voting on   
   Feb. 26 with a preferential ballot by telephone or over the Internet - there   
   is no opportunity   
   for candidates who don't survive the first ballot to throw their support on   
   voting day.   
      
   Dr. Stilwell ducked questions about how much support she can deliver to the   
   Abbott camp, but   
   her decision to quit and join forces with Mr. Abbott sparked a round of   
   questions about an   
   "anybody but Christy" movement developing in the race.   
      
   Mr. Abbott did little to quash the notion, when pressed about who would be his   
   second choice on   
   the preferential ballot.   
      
   "I think on balance, my preference would go to Kevin," he said. Mr. Abbott   
   said he could work   
   with Ms. Clark, "but in terms of the leadership style I would embrace,   
   probably closer to Kevin   
   than to Christy."   
      
   Ms. Clark, campaigning in the Interior on Wednesday, dismissed the   
   endorsements as irrelevant.   
      
   "This race is not about what politicians do. It's not about whether people   
   want to orchestrate   
   a backroom deal to try and win. There are 95,000 members of our party in this   
   province and they   
   are all going to make their own decisions," she said. "I don't think many will   
   take kindly to   
   the suggestion there may be a backroom deal by the folks on the inside."   
      
   Mike de Jong, meanwhile, maintained he will stay in the race until the end.   
   "I'm in," he told   
   reporters. "This is a horse race. ... I don't hear a lot of people predicting   
   with certainty   
   the outcome and that's because it's a very difficult race to handicap."   
      
   He said he has been courted by the three other front-runners to jump before   
   voting day. Widely   
   seen as an underdog candidate, Mr. de Jong has come up short on caucus   
   endorsements despite his   
   recent role as government House Leader. But he noted his campaign has raised   
   $300,000 and   
   signed up close to 13,000 new party members, so he said he should not be   
   counted out.   
      
   The sixth leadership candidate in the race, Ed Mayne, has scheduled a news   
   conference for   
   Thursday morning to announce a "significant campaign decision." He's expected   
   to quit the race   
   and throw his support to George Abbott.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)