Earlier this week I spoke of how the renewed strength of the NDP, coupled with the experience of being burned in the last election will change the dynamics of the upcoming election. If a lowly blogger can notice this surely the professional pundits can as well. Here is confirmation of this from the Canadian Press (hat-tip Norman Spector).
...Demonizing Harper and his party's policies - stated, implied, or imputed - proved highly successful in salvaging a minority government for Prime Minister Paul Martin last June.
The Liberals made a flat-out appeal to NDP-leaning voters in the final days of the election campaign, warning that a vote for the New Democrats would only ensure a Conservative victory.
It was "a brilliant end game" that cost his party as many as dozen seats, Layton now says with a rueful laugh.
...NDP strategists insist they're not out to inoculate Harper from Liberal slurs. New Democrats will be aggressively challenging the Tories head-to-head in many ridings whenever the writ drops.
But in the words of party strategist Jamey Heath: "Do we really want another election campaign about how bad Stephen Harper is?
"It's about time we finally had an election that is about the government that's been in power for 12 years. That is the nub."
By the way, I think Jamey Heath is really good at his job. He is excellent on the roundtable on the CBC Politics program.
If the Liberals can get a repeat of the last-minute left-wing panic away from the NDP to their party they are in real trouble.
I have also noticed another interesting trend. I am not one for consensus wisdom but one piece of it that I have seen is the plethora of articles stating how the Liberals will not be able to re-label MP Harper as extreme. Needless to day, the Liberals need a complicit media to get this label to stick and if they don't play ball that is another weapon removed from their arsenal. I will grant you that I am less than convinced that this is a long-term trend but we shall see.
Update: The NDP is still weighing their options when it comes to supporting a non-confidence vote. If I were a betting man I would bet on them not supporting such a motion.
...If all three opposition parties were to support such a motion, it would take the wind out of inevitable Liberal accusations that Mr. Harper had teamed with separatists in the Bloc Québécois to force an election.
NDP Leader Jack Layton, who was quoted last week as saying support for such a motion was unlikely, explained yesterday that he was talking about what his party would do if the Conservatives were to act this week.
..."While in some parts of the country, notably Quebec, people are certainly anxious to get going and render judgment," said Mr. Layton, "that level of enthusiasm for an election hasn't percolated through the entire country according to members of our party that are out there with their ears to the ground."
But that may change, he said. "It will depend on what [the commission of Mr. Justice John] Gomery reveals."
