"You ain't seen nothing yet," promised Randy Bachman, as the Canadian rock icon rolled into one of his signature hit songs from decades ago.
As Mr. Bachman sang those words in Jim Kinnear's backyard Sunday, his message no doubt resonated with one small part of his audience - namely, the Alberta Tory leadership candidates who showed up for the financier's annual Stampede party.
It's an open race to succeed Ed Stelmach this fall, with no clear winner from among six hopefuls, four of whom hail from the Calgary area. Mr. Kinnear's little gathering of hundreds of people always brings out politicos to sample his music and his burgers - complete with his "JSK" brand on the buns. But this time, there was a lot at stake in making a political impression.
We caught up with a number of the candidates, including Gary Mar, who said his tenure in Washington gave him a deep understanding of Alberta's big southern market. The Edmonton area's Doug Horner would hope to inherit the Lougheed mantle, and provides a strong option outside the Calgary contingent. At the Hays Stampede breakfast earlier in the day, Alison Redford promised a campaign of ideas.
We didn't meet up with Rick Orman or Doug Griffiths at the various clambakes, but the crush of the crowds was overpowering. Ted Morton did breeze by, insisting the close horse race was actually invigorating.
Mr. Morton's early appeal was that he was seen as the candidate best suited to take on Danielle Smith, the charismatic leader of the new right-of-centre party, the Wildrose Alliance.
As for Ms. Smith, she was at the Kinnear party too, chatting and hand-shaking with the best of them. Her looming presence was why, for some Conservative hopefuls, Mr. Bachman's rendition of "Shakin' All Over" must have hit the appropriate note.