Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.
- Sun Tzu, 544 - 496 B.C., The Art of War
Why did the New Democratic Party's strategy to defeat B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell fail again, as it did in 2005?
It's the tough question NDP MLAs and activists must ask themselves immediately if they are to have any chance to win in 2013.
Several errors are already crystal clear.
Any party that uses not one, not two but three main slogans in a 28-day campaign is in serious jeopardy.
Yet the NDP started off with the social work-sounding - "Because Everyone Matters", then switched to the retro "Take Back Your B.C." - at best, a call to return the province to the people.
It gave an easy target to the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, major B.C. Liberal donors, to run ads saying: "Yeah, way back!"
Then the final NDP campaign slogan: "8 Years Of Gordon Campbell Is Enough!"
And not content with three different slogans, the NDP also blended them, such as: "Take Back Your B.C. Because Everyone Matters" or "8 Years Is Enough - Take Back Your B.C.!"
This was not a good sign.
Neither was the absence of a positive policy focus in the platform. Ask voters and they would probably cite two key NDP promises: increase the minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour and axe the carbon tax.
Appealing but neither had the salience to mobilize potential NDP voters or change minds. And they were well known pre-election positions.
Most disastrously, the NDP studiously ignored the number one issue on voters' minds - the economy - despite enormous available ammunition.
B.C. led the country in jobs losses in March with 23,000 and lost 63,000 from January to March, terrible numbers that should have been the focus of hard-hitting NDP ads - but weren't.
The NDP wouldn't attack Campbell on voters' biggest concern - and even let him publicly criticize the party for not having business backing!
Did the NDP respond that B.C. shouldn't trust the multinational corporations bankrolling Campbell while cutting jobs here?
Whose greed and mismanagement caused global economic chaos? Of course not. They shrugged it off.
Instead NDP ads featured health care, post-secondary tuition, education, the B.C. Legislature raid scandal, privatization, homelessness, transit cuts, raw log exports and oh yeah, job losses.
The result - NDP voters stayed home, unmoved by a listless campaign.
The NDP dropped 80,949 votes in 2009 compared to 2005 and this election had just 26,375 more votes than its winning total back in 1996. The Liberals won with just 63,000 more total votes than the NDP province-wide.
And a far better strategy.
Read more from Bill Tieleman at www.thetyee.ca Hear Bill Mondays at 10 a.m. on CKNW AM 980's Bill Good Show. Email: weststar@telus.net Website: billtieleman.blogspot.com
