Katz mobilizes to get out vote

BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

Postcard helped raise volunteer army to take on Judy Wasylycia-Leis machine.

In a departure from his campaign strategy in two previous civic elections, Mayor Sam Katz is trying to amass a volunteer army for a fall ground war against challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis.

During the hotly contested 2004 mayoral byelection, the Winnipeg Goldeyes owner won a landslide victory after simply declaring himself a candidate toward the end of an abbreviated registration period.

In 2006, when Katz defeated a relatively weak three-candidate field of challengers, his strategy involved saying as little as possible and avoiding major gaffes.

But the challenge posed by former Winnipeg North MP Wasylycia-Leis, who has won eight elections as an NDP MP and MLA, has led Katz to stop relying solely on name recognition and start organizing a conventional, volunteer-based re-election campaign.

A Canada Day long weekend mailer sent out to a majority of Winnipeg households, which implored Katz supporters to contact his Notre Dame Avenue campaign office, has already netted the two-term mayor "well over a few hundred" volunteers, campaign manager Marni Larkin said.

Assuming that's accurate, Katz's 2010 volunteer base already dwarfs the combined size of his meagre ground troops in both the 2004 and 2006 races.

"I have heard from some people who are surprised, because there really wasn't a chance to volunteer in the past," Larkin said.

Katz said earlier this month that Wasylycia-Leis has a tactical advantage in the form of support from well-organized New Democrats and others on the left. His Canada Day mailer, a postcard that cost somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000, was a deliberate attempt to build a volunteer base, said the incumbent mayor, who has also tried to polarize the electorate by making anti-NDP statements.

In the wake of the mailer, Larkin has started organizing the resulting campaign volunteers in 15 subcommittees -- one for each city ward.

"We're not taking anything for granted. I believe in building a volunteer base that reaches out to all aspects of the city," she said.

Methodically identifying supporters and then systematically getting out the vote on election day is considered crucial in close races. In Manitoba, campaign strategists for the federal Liberals, provincial NDP and Tories at both levels of government are considered experts in the almost-scientific practice.

Wasylycia-Leis said Katz's embrace of the practice underscores how seriously he is taking her as a challenger.

"I think he recognized from Day 1, just as I have, this is a tight race between the two of us," she said.

The latest public poll -- a Probe Research/CBC survey conducted in June -- gave Katz an 11-point lead over Wasylycia-Leis, who confounded some observers by eschewing media attention during the first two months of her official campaign.

Wasylycia-Leis said she now has more than 700 volunteers in her own camp, organized by co-ordinators Rebecca Blaikie and Boyd Poncelet.

She said she is meeting every night with prospective supporters at neighbourhood house parties and backyard barbecues. The events double as campaign fundraisers, she said.

Kaj Hasselriis, a Liberal-affiliated former mayoral candidate who finished third in 2006, held one such meeting at his own home Tuesday night. The event raised close to $5,000, he said.

Wasylycia-Leis now has her website up at judyformayor.com, but she does not intend to open a campaign office until August. Her campaign manager, Canadian Union of Public Employees representative Nicole Campbell, has yet to start working on the campaign.

Four other candidates have registered to run for mayor: Ed Ackerman, Rav Gill, Avery Petrowski and Nancy Thomas. The ballot will be set on Sept. 22, after the registration and nomination period closes. The civic election takes place Oct. 27.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 15, 2010 A3