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Harold Jansen - Week Six Results

Political Parties
A-	A	C-	B

Bloc Quebecois

A high grade, mostly because of Duceppe’s dominance of the French language debate. He absolutely owns that debate. Even Martin’s excellent French does not allow him to keep up with Duceppe. I thought Duceppe’s performance in the English debate was the weakest debate performance I’ve seen from him. He seemed pretty irrelevant. The major issue for the Bloc is to try to match the inflated expectations.

Conservative Party

The Conservatives pretty much coasted through the week. Harper faced some potential trouble in the English debate. As the frontrunner, he was going to be the target, but he got through with a steady, careful performance. He had the most to lose in the debate and managed to escape unscathed. For that, we can probably score him the victor. The rest of the week was relatively uneventful, which is exactly how the Conservatives want it. The most interesting thing about the Conservative campaign is the support in Quebec. That probably won’t translate to many seats, but it does help to sell the party as a true national alternative, something that appeals to Ontario voters.

Liberal Party

The Liberals are trying to make their campaign look passionate, but it’s really desperation now. Everything about the campaign is desperate. The high (low?) point of desperation came in the debate during Paul Martin’s poorly thought-out pledge to eliminate the notwithstanding clause. Is he proposing an amendment that will reopen the constitutional quagmire? Martin had a few good moments in the debates, but the performances were not strong enough to turn the campaign around. The desperation was especially apparent in the Liberal attack ads. They seem to have functioned more as fodder for humour than as a contribution to political debate. The Liberals are probably playing their strongest suit by going after the costing of the Conservative programs. Martin and the Liberals have some credibility as financial managers and they can exploit that. But the awaited Conservative implosion does not seem to be happening.

New Democratic Party

Once again, I though Jack Layton came across a bit too rehearsed during the debate, but he managed to keep his fire on the Liberals. The NDP has done a good job of staying on the message that people who are mad at the Liberals but can’t bring themselves to vote Conservative have an option is working reasonably well. The major thing the NDP has to fear is a “Stop Harper” move that would see strategic Liberal votes. So far, the NDP seems to be holding their supporters, which bodes well for them.

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