The Land Is Strong...

That, anyway, is the kind of campaign Harper seems to have been running, with the caveat that said land is only strong with him in the PM's chair. All told this didn't really work for Trudeau back in 1972 and Harper's ship has probably now sailed.

I can't say I expected this, not at the outset of the campaign (which if I'd written a book about my thoughts at the time, the title "A Time for Cynicism" would have been apt), not two weeks ago, not when I voted in an advance poll on Good Friday.

At the very least, Jack Layton and Olivia Chow will be moving into Stornoway after Monday and 24 Sussex isn't out of the question either. I wonder if anyone in the country could have anticipated this a month ago. If only I'd made some appropriately wild predictions at the time...

I feel bad for Ignatieff. He's a good guy and I was impressed by his early campaign. On the other hand, his failure to call Harper on his anti-coaltiion BS was beyond disappointing. It will be a shame when he resigns as leader, which almost seems inevitable at this point - unless, perhaps, he were to become a cabinet minister in a Layton-led government? I still can't believe I'm writing that as an actual possibility rather than a vague hypothetical.