Wednesday December 12 5:44 PM EST
What a drag: transvestite Enza (Supermodel) Anderson to join race for Day job
By JAMES MCCARTEN
TORONTO (CP) - The contest to succeed Stockwell Day is poised to
become a drag race. Enza (Supermodel) Anderson - a politically astute
transvestite armed with stiletto heels, shorter-than-short skirts and more leg
than a bucket of fried chicken - wants to lead the Canadian Alliance.
"I'm gonna unite the right," Anderson said from his home in Toronto as he
polished the speech he plans to deliver Thursday to formally declare his
candidacy.
"And let me tell you, there's a lot of sexy MPs I'd like to unite with."
Anderson, 37, sashayed on to the municipal scene in Toronto last year when
he ran - tongue firmly planted in well-rouged cheek - against incumbent mayor
Mel Lastman for Toronto's top political job.
He (Anderson prefers to be known as a woman, but facts are facts) got manhandled, of course; Lastman cruised to victory on sky-high approval ratings.
But Anderson placed third, taking more than 15,000 votes away from some 25 other candidates. With typical cross-dresser moxie, he demanded a recount, and a political career was born.
"I ran a very fiscally responsible campaign on a $300 budget," Anderson said. "I was environmentally sound, too - I had one sign, which I still have, and it's plastic. You can recycle plastic."
While seeking the Alliance leadership is a far cry from running for mayor on a shoestring, Anderson's campaign team is well on its way to raising the $25,000 deposit, said manager Ian Ross.
The entire project will likely cost $100,000 or more, but Ross said he has no doubt the campaign will be well-financed. Benefactors who wish to remain anonymous have already pledged "large funds," and the pool is growing every day.
Through a newly unveiled Web site at enza.ca, the campaign began soliciting donations last week - complete with a disclaimer promising that none of the money would go to the Alliance party.
Anderson will attract financial and political support from gays and lesbians, anti-poverty groups and anyone else keen to pry the Alliance from its right-wing perch, Ross said.
"We feel we can draw a completely new breed of people in, people who normally wouldn't touch the Canadian Alliance with a 20-foot pole, let alone a 10-foot pole," he said.
He's also convinced that there are gay and lesbian Alliance supporters out there who will welcome Anderson's candidacy.
Stockwell Day, who resigned as leader Wednesday to dedicate himself to the race toward the March 8 vote, said last week he was among those glad to see Anderson's name on the list of candidates, which now includes Calgary MP Diane Ablonczy and former Reform tactician Stephen Harper.
"I'm just pleased that we continue to attract people from across the spectrum," Day said. "As long as people agree with our policies and principles, we're very open, we're very diverse."
Ross dismissed Day's support as "crap."
"We don't trust him, obviously, and we feel that somewhere along the way, one of his buttons is going to get punched ...and he's going to lose it."
And while Anderson says he's committed to issues like health care, affordable housing, poverty and gay rights, things aren't likely to get too serious, Ross added.
"We're going to use all the tongue-in-cheek we possibly can," he said. "That's our weapon."
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