Crawford, PNP and the delegates

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I am a PNP man, have been so for more than 48 years of my adult life, and so I watch with keen interest the VP race coming up on Saturday. Like most PNP people, I think the party needs Damion Crawford to be one of the four, yet this is no shoo-in.

First, Damion has no delegates while all other candidates start the race with at least 100 of their own. He is a man without a constituency, has no groups and no delegates.

That means he has no sure votes, no votes that he can trade with other candidates for additional support and make deals to assist him. It means that Damion must appeal to delegates on his own merit, convince them that he is good for the party.

Obviously, their not voting for him would be a mistake, but I live in the land where Trump is president so I know a thing or two about political mistakes.

HIS YOUTH

Second, Damion is a young man and so also has to fear those of his generation. No one enters politics as a young person without certain ambitions, and clearly there are going to be a few who see his victory as a push-back for them and their ambitions.

If it's him, then it's not them. For instance, my daughter showed me a Facebook post of a young lady who is the right hand of a particular MP, in which she was publicly campaigning against him.

The post got little traction. No one liked it, but still it begs the question as to why the right hand of this garden MP, who is not even a candidate in the race, would be campaigning outright against Crawford.

So there is no doubt that Crawford is going to have to fight hard for a victory. Soundings on the ground says he has a lot of support, but even that is dangerous as delegates might feel he doesn't need their vote and be persuaded to give it to others who are struggling.

Saturday will be interesting to watch. I hope my people get it right but would not be surprised if they get it wrong.

Oswald Graham