Weekly Report: Alberta Election for Week Ending Feb. 15, 2008

Two weeks into the four-week Alberta Election campaign and the Real Alberta PC activist group had their attack video “Ed Stelmach - Don't Worry Be Happy” receive the most views last week. The numbers for all of the Alberta election videos are not very high, which suggests, like the recent Saskatchewan election, the prairies have not caught the web campaigning bug as of yet, especially when compared to the current activity in the United States primaries for example. Canada’s on-line campaigning watershed moment may still be coming in terms of the Federal election, unless some innovative use happens in Alberta over the next two weeks before the Monday, March 3rd election day. In other words, provincial election campaigns will continue to be won mostly using word of mouth, door-to-door, face-to-face, mailing list interactions, and traditional media; however, the lack of on-line media may not be surprising given the short election campaign in Alberta.

A notably use of YouTube comes from the very small, yet developing Wildrose Party, although their videos have yet to catch the attention of many viewers. Also, an interesting issue that has appeared on YouTube is the controversy over Conservative party supporters being able to work for Elections Alberta, while all other provinces in Canada have laws against such practices. In one notably case, Liberal Candidate Chris Kibermanis had his winning election results overturned in the 2004 election because of a recount. He initially won by 9 votes, and lost his seat on the fourth recount based on an Alberta Court of Appeals decision.

FACEBOOK

Party Leader Facebook Supporters

1. Kevin Taft Personal Profile (Alberta Liberals): 693 friends
2. Ed Stelmach Fan Club (Progressive Conservatives): 415 members
3. Re-Elect Brian Mason, Edmonton Highlands-Norwood (NDP): 340 members.
4. George Read (Green Party of Alberta): 273 members.
5. Paul Hinman (Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta): 55 members.

Top Five Facebook Groups for the Alberta Election

1. I’m Voting for Kevin Taft and the Alberta Liberal Team: 685 members
2. Liberals in Alberta – We Do Exist: 497 members
3. Ed Stelmach is “Trying” to Destroy Alberta: 463 members
4. Re-Elect Brian Mason, Edmonton Highlands-Norwood: 340 members
5. Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta: 318 members

Other Facebook Groups of Note by Party

1. Progressive Conservative Youth of Alberta: 208 members
2. Alberta NDP: 99 members
3. Support Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta: 68 members

PARTY WEBSITES

The Political Scientist Sandford Borins provided an interesting initial analysis of each political party’s website on the first day of the election at: http://www.intergovworld.com/Blogs/Pages/blogentry.aspx?EntryID=330 [1] 

YOUTUBE