Alberta Tories' 'Super Saturday' loses its sizzle

A day the Alberta Tories hoped would energize the troops and capture the public’s attention has lost a little of its sizzle, but should still help the party, says a political scientist.

It was dubbed “Super Saturday,” a day when a raft of nominations around the province would be up for grabs.

• Election speculation grows as Alberta Tories ramp up nominations

"This is an opportunity to expedite the process and get on with the game of dropping the writ and letting the contest start," said Chaldeans Mensah, a political scientist at MacEwan University.

But Saturday will be somewhat less than super as only seven of the 23 nominations will be contested.

Most candidates, including many cabinet ministers and the premier himself, will be acclaimed.

Nonetheless, the anti-climactic event will not hurt the Conservatives, Mensah said.

“Once the writ is dropped, it's a whole new ballgame, everybody puts in the same effort,” he said. “But I think in terms of advertising and so on, advantage goes to the PCs clearly in this contest.”

All parties will be ramping up nominations over the next few weeks, as the election call is anticipated soon.