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RICK MERCER TAKES LIBERAL LEADERSHIP TO EBAY
WebPosted Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:48:12
---Political satirist Rick Mercer has kicked off another online
campaign, this time in an attempt to lure someone to lead the federal
Liberal Party.
On his CBC-TV show Rick Mercer Report Tuesday night, Mercer announced the
online auction of a "Liberal Leadership Kit" to help a prospective
candidate make a bid to lead the federal party.
"Like many good ideas, this one came about in a bar," Mercer told CBC
News on Wednesday.
"A bunch of the writers were sitting around - a couple of Tories, a
couple of Liberals -and they were discussing this Liberal leadership
and it was established that the job is perhaps worthless. Someone
suggested that it should be put up on eBay and we did it. We thought we
would raise beer money - that's what we were aiming for."
The kit includes a 15-minute consultation conference call with the Rick
Mercer Report writing staff (which includes "three high school dropouts
and a University of Toronto commerce major," Mercer said) and use of the
show's colour printer.
"It's a good printer. We're low on magenta though," Mercer said.
"Perhaps [the kit] should come with a 30-day psychiatric
consultation," he joked.
They decided to start the bidding at in an attempt to "discourage vanity
candidates," Mercer said,
"I'm thinking that if this afternoon it immediately jumps to 03 million,
then Belinda [Stronach] is in," Mercer joked.
By 4 p.m. EST Wednesday, the eBay auction had drawn 72 bids and reached
24,100. The auction is set to end March 14, hours before the next broadcast
of Rick Mercer Report .
Earlier Wednesday, Mercer had said that if bidding rose into the 20,000
region, they'd have to make sure the money went to "a good cause."
However, he acknowledged having a sneaking suspicion that "it may be hard
to collect" from some of the bidders.
Mercer, who has poked fun at politicians from all the major Canadian
parties on his current and past CBC shows, has initiated internet
campaigns before.
In November 2000, during the election campaign, Mercer launched an online
petition to have Stockwell Day change his first name to Doris.
Day, who was then leader of the Canadian Alliance, is now the federal
minister of public safety for the Conservative government.
Mercer's goal was to show how easy it would be to trigger a referendum
under Day's proposed legislation to force a referendum on any subject
provided a petition was signed by three per cent of Canadian voters
(about 350,000 people).
In less than two weeks, the petition had received one million signatures.
Copyright (C) 2006 CBC. All rights reserved.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/03/08/mercer-liblead-ebay.html
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6042164599
http://search.ebay.ca/liberal-leadership_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8QQsalicZ2QQxZ0QQyZ0
WebPosted Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:48:12
---Political satirist Rick Mercer has kicked off another online
campaign, this time in an attempt to lure someone to lead the federal
Liberal Party.
On his CBC-TV show Rick Mercer Report Tuesday night, Mercer announced the
online auction of a "Liberal Leadership Kit" to help a prospective
candidate make a bid to lead the federal party.
"Like many good ideas, this one came about in a bar," Mercer told CBC
News on Wednesday.
"A bunch of the writers were sitting around - a couple of Tories, a
couple of Liberals -and they were discussing this Liberal leadership
and it was established that the job is perhaps worthless. Someone
suggested that it should be put up on eBay and we did it. We thought we
would raise beer money - that's what we were aiming for."
The kit includes a 15-minute consultation conference call with the Rick
Mercer Report writing staff (which includes "three high school dropouts
and a University of Toronto commerce major," Mercer said) and use of the
show's colour printer.
"It's a good printer. We're low on magenta though," Mercer said.
"Perhaps [the kit] should come with a 30-day psychiatric
consultation," he joked.
They decided to start the bidding at in an attempt to "discourage vanity
candidates," Mercer said,
"I'm thinking that if this afternoon it immediately jumps to 03 million,
then Belinda [Stronach] is in," Mercer joked.
By 4 p.m. EST Wednesday, the eBay auction had drawn 72 bids and reached
24,100. The auction is set to end March 14, hours before the next broadcast
of Rick Mercer Report .
Earlier Wednesday, Mercer had said that if bidding rose into the 20,000
region, they'd have to make sure the money went to "a good cause."
However, he acknowledged having a sneaking suspicion that "it may be hard
to collect" from some of the bidders.
Mercer, who has poked fun at politicians from all the major Canadian
parties on his current and past CBC shows, has initiated internet
campaigns before.
In November 2000, during the election campaign, Mercer launched an online
petition to have Stockwell Day change his first name to Doris.
Day, who was then leader of the Canadian Alliance, is now the federal
minister of public safety for the Conservative government.
Mercer's goal was to show how easy it would be to trigger a referendum
under Day's proposed legislation to force a referendum on any subject
provided a petition was signed by three per cent of Canadian voters
(about 350,000 people).
In less than two weeks, the petition had received one million signatures.
Copyright (C) 2006 CBC. All rights reserved.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/03/08/mercer-liblead-ebay.html
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6042164599
http://search.ebay.ca/liberal-leadership_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8QQsalicZ2QQxZ0QQyZ0