What Other Elections?

Believe it or not, there was at least one other election around the world in the past few weeks. Scotland featured a special by-election for a seat to Parliament.

As I've discussed before, UK Prime Minister (and Scotsman) Gordon Brown has been having a hell of a time running the country since Tony Blair left office with a pantsful of shame (that whole Iraq War thing really didn't go down well with the electorate). The Labour Party has been in hell, much to the pleasure of the Tories nationwide.

But the Tories really don't do well in left-leaning Scotland, so Labour's demise has been the Scottish Nationalist Party's gain. And recently, the SNPs have been winning in elections that just a few months earlier they'd have never been considered contenders.

Well, B&E readers, the economic crisis can upend politics in the UK, too, it appears. Gordon Brown is a bit of a wonky economist, and of any world leader, he's been hailed as one that's taken some of the boldest action. Now, I don't know enough about economics or about what he's done exactly to know if his bold action truly is brilliant or it just seems brilliant, but either way, Gordo's experiencing a bit of a renaissance at the moment.

And he's got his first electoral win to prove it. In the recent special by-election in Glenrothes, the SNP candidate was predicted to defeat the Labour candidate, who happens to be the headmaster at Gordon Brown's old school. Brown, with his sudden surge in popularity, actually campaigned for the man, something that would've been certain death to any Labour politician in Scotland a few months ago.

Lindsay Roy won the Glenrothes seat. This is perhaps particularly significant because Roy's district borders Gordon Brown's. It was close, and the SNPs did better there than ever, but the economic collapse may just be causing Scotland's populace to go back home to the political party they know.

You better believe that the missus and I will be keeping our eyes on these developments.