Countdown to victory: 72 hours with Valrie Plante

"Can you f--king believe it?"

ValriePlanteis backstage at the Corona Theatre. A few minutes earlier, Denis Coderre called her to concede victory. She is now Montreal's mayor-elect.

The transition of poweris already underway. As Plantehugsmembersof her team, her new security detail lookson.

When she is sworn in later this month, Plante will become Montreal'sfirst female mayor, in charge of Canada's second-largest city and responsible for $5.2 billion worth of spending.

But at9:45p.m. on Sunday,the enormity of what she'sjust accomplished has yet to sink in.

"Idon'tevenknow," she stammers."I thinkI'll get emotional later on.I'm just shocked right now."

CBC'sSarahLeavittspent the final 72 hours of the Montreal municipal campaign following Plante.Shewas given exclusive access to Plante's campaign events, her campaign headquarters and her home.

Coderre's campaign declined to accommodate a similar request for access.

This is what the final days of the winning campaign looked like from the inside.

Friday, Saturday on thehustings

With polls suggesting a close race, the home stretch of the campaign involveswhat Plante's team says she does best: speaking to citizens.

On Friday and Saturday, she rides the Metro, and visits businesses along Monkland Avenue in N.D.G. and Wellington Avenue in Verdun two boroughs where she needsto pick up votes if she's going to win.

She also toursthe city's major markets.

As the campaign wound down,LeDevoir, LaPresseand the Montreal Gazette all published editorials endorsing her opponent. Driving fromJean Talon toMaisonneuvemarket on Saturday, I ask her about the endorsements.

"I don't think it really matters," she says from the backseat of the small red Yarisher campaign rented to help the cycling enthusiast get around.

"The endorsements come from the owners of those newspapers and I think they have their interests and they aren't necessarily the interests of the population."

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Plante'spopularityis based less on establishment support, and moreon her charm, and a soon-to-be trademarked laugh.

Before she arrives at the market, a six-year-old boy sayshe'd vote for Coderre. Ten minutes and oneconversation with Plante later, he says he's changed his mind.

If Coderre is 'Kid Kodak,' then he's in competition with Polaroid Plante, who is stopped almost every minute so people can take aphoto with her.

The campaign guru

It is around 5 p.m. on Saturday17 hours until polls open and Plante has just held her last event of the grueling 45-day campaign. Her campaign manager,GuillaumeCloutier, is feeling good.

"Their campaign is a disaster and our campaign was really good," Cloutier tells me. "It's why, one day before the election, we can now say it's possible for us to win."

We are sitting in a room at campaign headquarters known as "The Dungeon." It is equippedwith only one lamp with a glaring bare bulb. There isa sofa, a table, a shower anda punching bag.

PlanteHQ is in a former spa, near BeaudryMetro. Each office is equipped with a showeror bath and, in one instance, an unidentifiable piece of equipment that looks like a tanning bed.

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"In December 2016, we started to analyze our business case," Cloutier says. "We started with some focus groups, with some surveysand we started to see the kind of approach we would have for this campaign."

That means Plantebegan planning her mayoralty campaign almost immediately after her surprise win in the Projet Montral leadership race.

By the summer she was, however, still unknown to most Montreal voters. But July broughta political gift forPlante, an event that gave her a platform to raise her profile with Montrealers.

"We had the Formula E event and it changed everything," Cloutiersays of the sparsely attended electric-car race.He is sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, wearing a greyhoodie. His exhaustion is apparent.

"I'm really satisfied by what we did but ... I'm kind of freaking out a little bit."

Decision time

Election Day begins at Caff Mille Gusti in Rosemont for communications director Marc-Andr Viau.

Joined by a Le Devoir journalist and the campaign's official photographer, they stock up on coffee before we make our way to Plante's house.

The Projet leaderlives on the bottom floor of a triplex with her partner and two sons.

On Sunday morning, her kitchen and living room are strewn with empty coffee cups and newspapers.

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Her 14-year-old son is oblivious to the action around him, playing a computer game.Her 11-year-old pops in only to grab his iPad before heading upstairs, where his grandmother lives.

On her way to vote, Plante is stopped by a citizen asking for directions to the polling station.

"Do you remember me?" the citizen asks.

"Yes! We saw each other in Outremont. You are the crossingguard at the school," Plante replies.

Rallying the troops

After voting, Plante and her team make their way to the local borough headquarters.About 30 people are working the phones, calling people to remind them to vote.

Before leaving,Plante's partner, Pierre-Antoine Harvey, writes out "Merci!" on the whiteboard.

She spends a fewquiet hours with her family as polls close and results start to come in. The advance ballots are counted first, and give Plantean early lead.

The lead doesn't waver as more ballots are counted. At 9:14 p.m. CBC News projects she'll win the election.

At theCorona Theatre, a line up has already formed around the block and security is tight. When Plante arrives about a half-hour later, the riot police standing guard begin to cheer.

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"Go and see them," Viau tells her.

Meanwhile, in the crammed basement backstage, press attach Youssef Amane scrambles to get Plante'svictory speech printed. But the printer doesn'twork.

"I don't care how, but figure out a solution," Viau tells him.

Amane runsupstairs and finds a member of the concert hall's staff to print it for him.

Plante makes her way downstairs, where she waits for Coderreto give his concession speech. Before taking the stage to give hers, Planteputs a hand over her heart.

"375 years after Jeanne Mance," Plante tells the crowd when she finally takes the stage, "Montreal has its first female mayor."