Labour's voice
Blaenau Gwent Labour have chosen their man to fight the next Assembly election - and its Alun Davies.
He will be relieved. Having nailed his colours quite so spectacularly to the mast, he had to win it. After all as one Labour source put it - bluntly I warn you - "he put his arse on the line and would have looked foolish if he hadn't won it".
It was, apparently, a close run thing between the current AM for Mid and West Wales and Welsh Labour's former head of policy, Dave Hagendyk. The counting got to fifth preferences tonight before one man pulled ahead of the other by the margin needed to win.
So in Nick Smith Labour have a parliamentary candidate who is softly spoken, an advocate of working quietly on the ground to win back support and trust for the party. He keeps his powder pretty dry. And one assembly candidate who'll go out all guns blazing and fight for it.
What was Alun Davies' pledge? I'll remind you of what he had to say about the current, independent AM, Trish Law:
"In the face of the current recession Blaenau Gwent needs an AM who will argue and fight for continued support and resources.
The current incumbent does little or nothing to fight for Blaenau Gwent. Her contributions to the Assembly are woeful. She has let down the people of Blaenau Gwent and broken the promises she made.
Enough is enough.
It's time for a change. It's time that Blaenau Gwent had an AM committed to fighting for the people in our communities and speaking up for them.
Blaenau Gwent needs a strong, articulate and powerful voice. I believe that I can be that voice".
Or put it another way: People's Voice watch out. Trish Law counts her support on the ground and simply says, bring it on.
He's got the Labour candidacy now. That's half the battle won. Did I say half? In Blaenau Gwent, that's surely being generous.
UPDATE: It sounds as though my source in Ebbw Vale last night was slightly too keen to over-dramatise. I gather it was done and dusted by the third round of voting. Plenty of drama to come though I suspect.
I'm Betsan Powys, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on .
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