Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

THREE STRIKES and you are out. That equation was always clear to Portia Simpson Miller.

Had Dr Peter Phillips unseated her as president of the People's National Party (PNP), it would have been her third successive electoral defeat and possibly "good night 'Mama P'."

Simpson Miller, one of Jamaica's most loved politicians of all time, had promised to lead the PNP to a fifth consecutive term in government.

When she first took the reins as PNP president in March 2006, Simpson Miller had an enviable approval rating of 78 per cent.

But that political capital was lost after 18 months when she went to the people asking for her own mandate.

Jamaicans rejected her and gave the job of managing the country's affairs to Bruce Golding and his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The JLP secured 3,000 more votes than the PNP to win 32 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives.

Disunity showing up

She then led the PNP into local-government elections in December. Again she lost. Disunity in the PNP was showing up and the party looked to be wobbling in opposition.

Unhappy with the state of affairs within the PNP, Phillips pledged to renew the movement. He offered himself for leader but Simpson Miller was convinced the people wanted her.

A Phillips challenge loomed. And 314 days after the Portia train was derailed, Phillips offered himself for leadership.

Simpson Miller's response was a master stroke. The day after Phillips announced his challenge, she responded, by way of the party's secretariat, to the challenge.

In that press release, Simpson Miller stopped short of saying that the last thing the PNP needed was a challenge.

"Team People's National Party, the team that I lead, is up to the task to meeting this impending challenge," Simpson Miller said while referring to the increasing cost of living affecting the country.

At that time, it appeared that Team PNP was the conscience of the party, but within days, it was exposed for what it was: Simpson Miller's campaign organisation.

Simpson Miller, whose perfor-mance against Golding in the 2007 election debates has been widely regarded as below par, did no harm to her bid to retain the presidency when she delivered a super speech on party renewal at the National Executive Council meeting at the University of the West Indies. Simpson Miller was now talking about the party's progressive agenda, effectively stealing Phillips' thunder.

To win the battle on the ground, Simpson Miller's Team PNP turned to former member of parliament and long-time friend Easton Douglas to head its campaign organisation.

strategy

Alston Stewart, a key man in campaigns under the P.J. Patterson administration which won four consecutive general elections, was also drafted. A strategy was plotted, and within days, Team PNP was on the ground in every division, meeting with delegates.

While the work was taking place on the ground, Simpson Miller declared that she was not campaigning, stressing that she was the president of the PNP. During this time, however, she hopped from one divisional conference to another; one constituency to the other, selling her vision for the renewal of the PNP.

Simpson Miller then presented Jamaica with fresh political faces. Phillips may have named his campaign organisation Arise and Renew, but Simpson Miller said she had already begun the renewal process.

Young parliamentarians Basil Waite, Lisa Hanna, Natalie Neita Headley, Ian Hayles and Mark Golding were named as spokespersons on her campaign.

Similarly, Raymond Pryce and Damion Crawford, all young Comrades, were included. The experienced Roger Clarke, Angela Brown-Burke and Anthony Hylton completed the slate.

The Simpson Miller campaign left out Donald Buchanan, Phillip Paulwell and Colin Campbell, all supporters, but persons to whom the public might no longer warm.

Former Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies lined up with Simpson Miller and he declared he would give her whatever technical support she needed.

Simpson Miller's campaign targeted 2,800 of the nearly 4,500 votes in yesterday's election and nearly got them.

Had she lost, no matter how close the margin, no amount of "It's not over yet" or "nightmare" speeches would have kept her from being listed among the year's big losers.

darain.luton@gleanerjm.com