08 03 06	Doug The Slug 192.30.202.18
It was all Chris Charlton could do to beat a truly awful Liberal candidate in Bill Kelly last time. Anyone who knows Hamilton knows that Beth Finney would have held on for the liberals if she'd run again. Charlton simply isn't that strong. Unlike Bill Kelly, new Liberal candidate, Tyler Banham is actually working hard to win this seat. As other correctly point out, Banham has managed to have a lot of well known MPs drop by his riding. I say that Banham will out work Charlton and Hamilton Mountain will be Liberal again in the next election. The Liberals will take back Hamilton East-Stoney Creek too.
	08 02 15	Reality Check 206.130.179.100
A few things to clear up here: 1) Chris Charlton is not a strong MP. I hear a lot of people tauting her as the winner of the ‘Best up and comer on the hill,’ but if you put the contest in its proper context, the Hill Times, who ran the contest only polled staffers. The NDP staff whipped their vote, while the Conservatives and Liberals did not. That's how Charlton won. 2) Tyler Banham has a strong team around him. Don't ever doubt that. 3) Hamilton Liberals are not divided. At least not on the Mountain. The nomination race which Banham won, was decisive, not divisive. Ruby Amog is behind Banham 100% and at his side at all of his events. 4) Banham has done 7 town hall meetings since winning the nomination. He's brought down people like Justin Trudeau and Ken Dryden to speak with residents. That's a big step forward. Who has Charlton brought? No one - that's who. 5) Charlton is invisible. Her office is never opened and her staff do nothing besides refer people to David Christopherson's office. Anyone who actually needs their MP is out of luck. Charlton is never around. People have been taking record of that. Overall, Banham is the one with the momentum here. He's brought in tons of important guests to speak with residents, has gotten tons of press coverage, has a strong team and is just waiting for the writ to drop. Put this one in the Liberal win column. If the Liberals pick up only one seat in Hamilton, this is the one.
	08 01 29	Mountain Lib 206.130.179.100
Hey Anonymous, your ISP address is showing. If you really are a ‘Mountain Liberal’ as you claim, why are you posting from Toronto? Looks like a drive by smear job to me. If this is all that the NDP have, they're going to have to try harder.
	08 01 27	Hammer Politics 24.141.169.42
Anonymous first poster: Why is a ‘liberal’ from Hamilton Mountain posting from Toronto? Sounds more like a Queen's Park hack than genuine mountain liberal, and it shows in your feeble ‘argument’ which is strong in insinuation and weak in fact. Your first assertion, that Tyler does have the support of HM liberals is absurd. Your argument begins with a drive by, vague assault at his family's character. Your argument is unsubstantiated and merely riddled with personal anecdotes. It is common knowledge that Banham has a strong cohesive team. In an article in the Ancaster News, by Kevin Warner directly cites the importance of 'former Beth Phinney supporters' uniting behind Banham. Furthermore, the recent impressive press coverage only amplifies the buzz that he has created on the Mountain, and dispels the bizarre assessment that he 'scares away' others. This ‘reinterpretation’ of the facts is little more than a cheap political ploy, and adds nothing to the legitimate discussion
	08 01 07	99.244.21.191
As a Liberal from Hamilton Mountain I can tell that Tyler Banham won't win. In the circles that the Banham family work within, many people are discontent and after they screwed over many people to win the nomination a lot of Liberals will flee to other ridings to help. Tyler himself is not an approachable person and mostly scares away voters. The Banham name is now weak with many Liberal in Hamilton now, I personally know that they can’t count on the support of myself or a large group of my Liberal friends. In May 2006, Chris Charlton was named one of the best ‘Up and Comer’ MPs in the House of Commons. The NDP have made great inroads into the riding, and has many new and old strong connections to community groups, organizations and constituents. I must say from a non-partisan perspective Chris has done a lot of outreach and her constituent services have been outstanding. From the provincial election the general idea of have NDP representation is there. Sophia Aggelonitis won merely because of the anti-faith base school funding wave of the Liberals, with only a 4% difference. So Tyler shouldn't count on her popularity for anything. The NDP brought a strong second place. As sad as it may be the Liberal won’t win Hamilton Mountain until we get another candidate.
	07 12 09	Steve V 130.113.193.163
Ancastarian, Stephane Dion is not going win this riding, Tyler Banham is. I originally discounted this guy until he showed up at my door in October canvassing. I asked him how long he's been canvassing and he said since he won his nomination in April! This guy is a machine. He has had Ralph Goodale, Dion and Justin Trudeau come into the riding and got great press each time. He's got the momentum here.
	07 11 30	156.34.226.67
There’s no way anyone should think that Hamilton is the only area the Liberals will possibly gain next time. This isn’t even the first most logical pick up for the Liberals in Ontario, that would be Parkdale High Park, or now Mississauga-Streetsville. As was shown provincially, the NDP are quite strong in Hamilton and 2 of the MPs are from the provincial party originally.
	07 11 23	AJ 130.113.109.19
Banham has too much momentum to let this one slide back to the NDP. The recent Trudeau townhall meeting got press that Charlton could only dream of. Banham is the new media darling of Hamilton and Charlton looks too much like ‘yesterday's story’
	07 11 01	Mountaineer 130.113.193.21
This one is going to be a barn-burner. As Dreschel said a while back it is a contest of the Banham Machine vs the Charlton Machine. As we've already seen in the last election, the Banham machine won and put Sophia Aggelonitis (sp?) into office. Charlton threw everything she had into the last provincial election and came up short. I expect her to come up short again. To those who think Banhma is a ‘nobody’, think again. Perhaps he is a nobody in the public's eye but the guy is as well connected within the Liberal party as anyone can be. That's why he's been able to get Ralph Goodale to fly in from Saskatchewan to canvass the Tim Horton's with him. Hamilton Mountain and Hamilton East Stoney Creek may be the only seats the Dion Liberals pick up in the country.
	07 10 22	Ancastarian 24.226.51.212
This seat will be close. But I just don't see the Dion Liberals having the strength to defeat Chris Charlton. Hamilton Mountain is probably the weakest NDP seat in the city, but the Liberals are unorganized, demoralised, and unless Dion does really well in the debate I would leave this in the NDP column.
	07 10 19	C 72.12.146.107
Tyler has been working hard since his nomination to get his name out there. It's been in the paper a few times, so I wouldn't exactly call him a nobody. The mountain has been red quite often.
	07 10 14	C 69.157.19.117
I'm not too sure Charlton will hold this seat, but the Grit Candidate is pretty much a nobody, so it could be possible. Terry Anderson and the Tories have a good shot, mainly because Terry was a popular city councillor here in Hamilton for a long while. Still can't say right now, but more info to come after election called.
	07 06 20	Mark Mulligan 24.141.168.151
Tyler Banham is one hell of a campaigner. Look for this riding to return to the Liberals. Beth Phinney may not have been one of the strongest MPs around, but she had one of the strongest campaign teams in the country. Most of her people are coming on side with Banham like they never did for Bill Kelly. Move this one into the Liberal win column.
	07 04 19	Dr Bear & Prof Ape 137.207.11.85
Sometimes we think we come here just to read A.S.'s wonderful speeches and this time we couldn't agree more. As we know this riding well enough (Ape's brother is here and Bear's best friend is in near-by Ancaster) we see it much more like Hamilton east than anythign else. In any case, the Tory's numbers are not as good as previously though, and though this is the CPC's best bet in Hamilton, if anyone is going to steal it from the NDP, it's going to be the Liberals. We say NDP hold for now....let's wait and see.
	07 04 17	A.S. 74.99.222.209
I agree that among Hamilton's ?NDP 3?, the Tories have the best chance of nabbing Hamilton Mountain; but Chris Charlton actually had a pretty decent win (by an over 5% margin) for someone long dismissed as a perennial loser. And given competition like London-Fanshawe and--yes!--HE-SC, plus the special Gerard-i-fied case of Parkdale-High Park, I wouldn't even stoop to calling it ?most delicate? among Ontario's NDP seats, unless it's about *all* the wind being in the Tory sails and an ex-councillor star doing a better Gerard number on Chris C. than Gerard does on Peggy Nash. (Look, the *Grits* tried with a couldn't-lose star councillor in '06.) In fact, this ?most delicate? judgment is based upon a misreading of the seat, as if what pertained S of the Linc pertained throughout the whole riding; but the actual population/electoral centre of gravity--for the NDP especially--is N of the Linc, which is much more consistent with the broad-based working-class c20 bungalowburbia downhill. And there's a *long* tradition of NDP electability here--in fact, under Ian Deans, this was Steeltown's sole federal NDP seat in the 80s. And such strength even carries through a bit by proxy into the newer neighbourhoods, and probably all the more so with an incumbent in place now. It's hardly Ancaster, let alone Oakville. That said, just being a class-of-06 Dipper renders Charlton generically vulnerable; but not as abjectly as some might wish...
	07 04 14	Citoyen Dion 129.97.254.236
I must disagree respectfully Bear & Ape; while your thinking will probably hold in HE-SC, Hamilton Mountain is a much different riding from the downtown ridings. The escarpment is more similar to areas like Ancaster, Stoney Creek proper and Oakville. The NDP won this seat last time because it is one of the few in the country where the NDP can actually pull off a federal win, although it is probably the most delicate Ontario holding they have right now. If the CPC continues to poll in the high 40s here, and with a former councillor running for them, they will not simply surpass the Liberals in support, but likely take a bulk of that Liberal base along the southern parts of the riding (south of Stone Church) to win the riding.
	07 03 25	Dr Bear & Prof Ape 65.92.158.120
Like Hamilton East - Stoney Creek, we're making a controversial NDP prediction. A stronger CPC in the 905 will pull votes away from the Liberals but not enough to surpass the NDP, who are fairly solid in this blue collar town. Again, we say call us crazy if you will, but it's how we see it right now.