i told you so

Back in January I wrote about Stephane Dion's appointment of a sitting (recently elected) NDP MLA as the Liberal candidate in a northern Saskatchewan riding. The by-election for that riding took place yesterday.

Well to Mr. Dion's and Ms. Beatty's surprise, but not to mine, Ms. Beatty lost. It appears having a candidate dropped in from another party with no open nomination process encourages people to stay home. I suspect, and it has been widely discussed, that a lot of Liberals upset at the process stayed home this election figuring out whoever was elected wasn't going to be around for long.

Here's some of the coverage of the by-election results:

CBC Saskatchewan
Globe and Mail
UPDATED: New Globe and Mail Story

As for Ms. Beatty, it appears she has the right idea. Stick around, fight a nomination battle if she has too, and run again whenever the Liberals finally stand up and vote rather than sit and abstain. There's a good chance that spending the next several months campaigning and showing people that she's willing to make a commitment to running federally may be what it takes to get Liberal supporters back to the polls and her into the House of Commons.