 | 'If by-election seats were handed out as prizes for enthusiasm, then the SNP and Liberal Democrats would have a claim to carve up the Anniesland seats between them.' Murray Ritchie in the Herald, 23 rd November 2000. |  |
| 'If by-election seats were handed out as prizes for enthusiasm, then the SNP and Liberal Democrats would have a claim to carve up the Anniesland seats between them.' Murray Ritchie in the Herald, 23 rd November 2000. | |
Today those same electors - or at least the 80% of them still to be found on an ageing register of voters - are being asked to choose his successors to Holyrood and Westminster. Few would bet on the even half of them turning out.
If the percentage poll is, as most expect, somewhere between 30% and 40% the result could be interesting but the real winner would be apathy, despite all the talk of the exciting politics of the new Scotland.
If by-election seats were handed out as prizes for enthusiasm, then the SNP and Liberal Democrats would have a claim to carve up the Anniesland seats between them. Frustrated nationalists were still banging on yesterday about the reluctance of Labour's two candidates to show up for a fight. The Lib Dems also paraded themselves before the media, as they have done throughout.
"We have run a lively and vibrant campaign," insisted John Swinney, SNP leader. "We believe all candidates should be tested and scrutinised and put under pressure."
Mr Swinney was speaking at his party's eighth press conference. Only the Lib Dems have run the SNP close on news conferences, most of which were lonely affairs with minimal media interest. At least they tried.
Why Labour chose a low profile is easily explained. Nowadays it is deemed the best way to defend a "safe" seat. Only when Labour has no alternative but to attack does it come out and fight as it did - unsuccessfully - in Ayr.
Effective it might be, but exciting it is not. Labour put up two grown men, both perfectly capable of defending themselves, and yet they were shielded from the media.
On one occasion during this campaign I tracked them down to the sort of publicity stunt-cum-photo-opportunity which masquerades these days as a press conference - a visit to a community centre - and was warned by a minder that an interview was not on unless I gave notice of my questions.
Why, I asked? "Because you might ask them something which takes them by surprise."
When Brian Wilson chaired Labour's second and final press conference, he talked of how his party's candidates had gone directly to the people, campaigned on the doorsteps and generally put themselves about.
Reporters' pencils snapped in disbelief, and when Mr Wilson proceeded to express regret at the "retreat" into fashionable telephone canvassing, some of us watched anxiously to see if we might be injured by the falling ceiling.
Television provided no studio hustings - for the first time I can recall - and it was left to a community group in Drumchapel to organise one on the subject of the housing stock transfer.
Candidates from every party were there, except the two from Labour. They were represented, extraordinarily, by a councillor from the east end of Glasgow, despite the fact that one of the the Labour candidates, Bill Butler, is a councillor from the east end of Glasgow.
The irony was not lost on the Tories who took the opportunity to pull one of their cringe-inducing stunts, this time a chicken which took to the stage behind the unfortunate Labour spokesman.
That was probably the lowlight of the whole campaign and it begged the question: what would Mr Dewar have made of it all? Labour will probably win both elections; failure in either would be a calamity. This suggests Labour knows better than its opponents how to campaign in its own strongholds. Productive it might be, but it can hardly be called edifying.
Even with a small turnout we should be able to draw some conclusions about voter mood in Scotland. The Tories are worried about their showing because this is a constituency where the Lib Dems and New Labour have made inroads.
Tommy Sheridan's Scottish Socialists are putting up a noisy show but Anniesland is far from their most fertile constituency, and the Nationalists are showing signs of learning the difference between talking about success and achieving it.
-Nov 23rd
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