Revolutionary Moderation

Remember these guys?

It's already started. The blogs have been reporting poll results almost daily. Let me declare now, as I did last election, I won't be doing it. An election is not a horse race, it's a hiring decision.

But hey, that doesn't mean I can't report on a horse race of a different sort, right?



I'm afraid James is still awaiting the prize I was too lazy to send before I moved. (Next trip south, for sure, James!) So this time, the contest winner can select any local Canadian candidate of their choice in a future provincial or federal election to receive a ten dollar donation in the name of "Revmod Gaffe-o-Meter" (something I should be able to do from here, without dealing with the poste). Send entries to gaffe2005@revmod.ca.

Given the leadup, I think there's a great deal of opportunity for blowing it in creative ways during this election. At the same time, only Duceppe had been through a campaign as leader before 2004, and I suspect they all learned some important lessons last time around. That might reduce the error count.

I'll remind you of the rules, only slightly edited from last time:

1) The scoring will begin on the day the writ is dropped for the Federal election - entries will be cut off midnight that day. Entries will include the predicted total score for each party.

2) Two numbers determine the score - the quality of the gaffe ("sig") and the rank of the gaffemaker ("prom"). Both scales will score on a range from one to three. GaffePoints ("GP") for an individual gaffe will be calculated by multiplying "sig" by "prom". Party scores will accumulate by adding the GPs of each gaffe.

3) Contest entries will be scored by measuring the distance (plus or minus) between the prediction and the score for each party - lowest total difference wins.

4) I am the final and only arbiter of the quality of the gaffe ("sig") and the rank of the gaffemaker ("prom"). Debate, however, is encouraged in the attached comments section - I can be convinced.

5) Scoring will close at 0800 MDT on the day following election day. SPECIAL PARIZEAU RULE: Scoring will double for gaffes made on election day, including acceptance and concession speeches.

6) For the purpose of the contest, "gaffe" is defined as an unplanned error in fact or judgment. It might be a mistake for the NDP to release a platform paper advocating gender segregation of schools, to the derision of the Canadian electorate, but it's not a "gaffe". On the other hand, if Jack Layton explains the policy by making an aside about "hot and dirty high school girls" (as Don mines the Google hits), that would be a "gaffe".

Let's reset those scores:



If I'm a little slower to update than last time around, forgive me. I've got a real job now, with an employer who is afraid that reading the CBC news on the web at work might damage my brain, so they've helpfully removed the temptation.