Independent candidate Vicki Huntington is maintaining a lead she's had from the outset as she seeks re-election in Delta South.With 42 of 123 polls reporting, Huntington had 47 per cent of the popular vote, ahead of Liberal challenger Bruce McDonald with just under 38 per cent. The NDP's Nic Slater is a distant third with 14 per cent. Huntington is roughly 600 votes ahead.Spirits were high as an enthusiastic crowd gathered at Huntington's campaign headquarters at the Sundance Inn in East Ladner. Huntington was all smiles when she arrived shortly after the polls closed, cheered on by supporters who were clearly in a celebratory mood.As the results trickled in, showing she had the early lead, Huntington began pacing nervously despite encouragement from supporters."Of course I am very nervous," she said. "Now we'll see if our hard work and campaign paid off. So far, so good, but I don't want to tempt the weather."As the first results started to come in not long after the polls closed, McDonald said he was "cautiously optimistic."Saying that he knew he, and the Liberal party, were behind from the outset, McDonald added that hopefully he ran a good enough campaign to overcome that.The mood appeared tense yet optimistic as supporters gathered at his campaign office to wait for the results to come in. Down the street at Slater's campaign office, supporters gathered around a small TV to watch and wait for the results. The mood was light as Slater said he felt "really positive" about the campaign.He said he heard from many voters throughout the campaign that they were tired of the Liberal government.Huntington's campaign once again focused on the need to give voters a voice, while both McDonald and Slater stressed the need for the riding to be represented by a member of a party.The campaign, for the most part, was a relatively clean affair, but that wasn't the case the day before the election as the gloves seemed to come off.On her website, Huntington denied voting in favour of implementing the controversial HST, counter to NDP claims in a "pre-election attack robocall in Delta South."Huntington, who said she has tried to refrain from negative campaigning, was also highly critical of recent attack ads by McDonald.One heated issue was an ad in which prominent local farmer Pete Guichon, a Liberal supporter, denied Huntington was the one who made public a farmland optioning deal to an industrial consortium. Guichon claimed he made the revelation two years earlier.Huntington countered her independent research uncovered facts and made them public, otherwise the arrangement would have been discussed behind closed doors.She also pointed out the Guichons stand to benefit greatly because their land is part of the plan to pull properties out of the Agricultural Land Reserve.Another heated back-and-forth argument centered on a McDonald ad that had a decade-old photo of members of the Save Delta Hospital Society. The ad read: "Delta is being mislead about who SAVED DELTA HOSPITAL!"Huntington's campaign noted several of the individuals in the photo, including longtime community activist Doug Massey, are, in fact, Huntington supporters who never authorized the Liberals to use their photo.Huntington also argued against a Liberal claim the democratic reform initiative was launched by the other two independents, and that she essentially tagged along.During the campaign, the Liberals also attacked Huntington for her role in securing funding for river dredging.
