PEIs best premier - Semi-finals almost finished

It's really late and I've been working all day, plus the number of votes in this is almost non-existant, so I'm not going to go into great depth. I'll just explain my votes in this round.

If you care about who's named PEIs best premier, take the time to vote. Your vote really will count!

Pat Binns (wiki/gov.pe.ca) vs. Angus MacLean (wiki/gov.pe.ca) - vote here

I've been torn on who to pick in this match-up. Binns certainly has a longer record as premier and much more electoral success. However, MacLean also had a very impressive streak of nine electoral wins after close losses in his first two federal elections in 1945 and 1949. Also, MacLean retired of his own accord, rather than going down in flames in the worst PEI election campaign I've ever observed.

Binns certainly deserves credit for growing the Island economy, despite having a federal government and 4 Liberal MPs who seemed to be determined to underfund the Island provincial goverment. However, his embrace of Stephen Harper in the 2005-6 election campaign was, in hindsight, clearly a big strategic mistake (I've got to think that Binns must have been a little disappointed that he couldn't run against Ottawa for a fourth consecutive election).

Binns deserves credit for bringing the issue of electoral reform to the table on PEI, but when the time came for him to take leadership on the issue he chickened out. Also, his overblown rhetoric and inability to control his caucus during the gerrymandering fiasco of Summer 2006 is a stain on his reputation. I was leaning towards casting my vote for Binns, but then I saw this news story today and was reminded of the Binns government's propensity to use the public purse to reward its supporters. As a result I'm going to cast my vote for the only Tory my maternal grandparents ever liked, the man who the Globe and Mail said "has the charm of a potato" - J. Angus MacLean!

Joe Ghiz (wiki/gov.pe.ca) vs. Alex Campbell (wiki/gov.pe.ca) - vote here

This battle between two legendary Liberal families was also a tough choice for me. Joe Ghiz was certainly a giant in PEI politics. He was the Premier who started the negotiations that led to the Confederation Bridge and played an important role on the national stage during the Meech Lake Accord. Renowned on PEI for his intellect and rhetorical flourish, he never was able to live up to his Opposition promises of reducing patronage once he got into government. Hopefully, his son's legacy as Premier will be to cleanse the PEI government of low politics.

But I've got to go with Alex Campbell. While he did loom as large on the national stage, he dramatically affect Island life, radically reshaping its institutions and nudging (at times dragging) a traditional society into the modern era. Thanks to a brilliant campaign by the younger Ghiz this spring, he will remain PEIs longest serving premier for at least another decade - and I would argue, PEIs best premier!

The voting will continue until Friday afternoon around 6:00 Atlantic time. Then I'll set up another poll for the finals, which will go until Sunday evening.