Political Tip Numero Uno: Make sure you're riding association supports you...

This is a political tip for all those candidates running to be MP's regardless of which party... Get to know the riding association. Make sure you have support on the riding association. That should be a prerequisite for your decision to run. If you don't, and many political novices not knowing enough about politics otherwise often make this mistake, you end up in a situation like Michael Ignatieff:

Dissident Liberals plan to go ahead with a nomination meeting tonight in Etobicoke-Lakeshore despite the fact the party has already acclaimed Michael Ignatieff as the candidate in the riding.
...
There are some Liberals who say privately they would rather lose the riding, held since 1993 by Jean Augustine until she stepped down Monday, than be hijacked by a political newcomer who has not lived in Canada for any length of time for more than 30 years.

Some Liberals are even saying they will actively support the Conservative candidate John Capobianco, who was raised in the riding.(link)

I can't understand how they can go ahead with a nomination meeting tonight. I don't know if the riding exec is behind this, but I know at least one member has pubicly denounced the Ignatieff candidacy. It could be just a fake nomination meeting, that the Liberal Party won't recognize. In which case it makes for good entertainment if you have nothing to do some evening coming up soon...

Ignatieff could have made his life so much easier. He could have first met with the riding executive before he made the decision to run there. He could have attended some Liberal riding events to get to know the membership and to give them time to get confortable with him. He put his whole political career in the hands of Paul Martin and his henchmen... And they cleverly pushed out the beloved sitting MP of some randomn riding to make room for him.

I'm thinking that riding exec must be pretty ticked - or at least the membership. My guess is that Martin controls the exec with Martin loyalists, but there are bound to be a couple dissidents representing the rest on the exec. Those are the ones Ignatieff needs to gain trust from.

But hey I'm not a Liberal - so I don't care! I'm happy that they're going down the tubes 'cuz it's good for Capobianco!

Though soberly I have to admit, it could have easily have happened in the Conservative Party if we had had a different leader than Stephen Harper.