Abbott - Could She Win It?

Given the sudden surge of nominations for Abbott yesterday, and the media hoopla about her (eventual) arrival on the ballot paper, it is worth asking the question "can she win the Labour leadership?"

The obvious answer is "no, of course she can't. And don't be so bloody stupid". As Charlotte Gore rightly points out, there is something amazingly patronising about how Abbott got onto the ballot paper. The other candidates helped her so they could look more inclusive and because they don't see her as a threat to their own chances. Anyone who thinks otherwise should consider things like this - Miliband Major cares so little about Abbott that he can't even be bothered to spell her name right when he announces that he's nominated her.

Yet she's on the ballot paper now, and as far as I can see there is one way in which she might just pull off a win. She's got onto the ballot paper because of who she is - a black female. Now, if she wants to win, she needs to stress what she's not. Because, unlike all the other candidates in this election, she isn't a middle-aged man trying to pull off an impression of Tony Blair, and she isn't tainted by close association with the disastrous Brown administration. These are her strengths - perhaps her only strengths - in this election, and she'd be idiotic not to play to them.

And I'll allow my readers to insert a pun about "Dianne" (as Miliband Major would write her name) and idiocy in the comments section.