Sad comment on Canadian politics today... (en francais)

Campaign Stories #5

If Mr. Harper's flaw is that he is inclined to be too principled by half - he'd rather be right than be elected - Mr. Martin's flaw is that he has few principles at all

Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail
December 10th, 2005 pg A29


We're firmly into the 'quiet' phase of the campaign. Signs are flying out the door, Rick is canvassing and plant-gating and the phone calls are humming along. Looks like I will be a Sunday to Thursday campaigner until after the Christmas season is over. Business is booming, and with my partner managing Rick's campaign, there's just not too much spare time left over. I'm able to keep up with website updates and some minor details Friday and Saturday, but not much else. Weekends are long and very stressful, so I need at least a few hours to myself.

I imagine the pace will pickup next week, as the last full week before we all break for Christmas. While we won't be contacting people, putting out lawn signs etc, there's certainly no lack of work to be done during the break. The core team will be hard at work updating our data system and honing our GOTV lists. Lit pieces are ready to go, phone scripts have been tested and the rest of the machine well oiled. The second phase of the campaign is going to be short and intense. We intend to be very organized. Our strategy has long been prepared and is working very well. I can't comment on many things at this point, but later on in the campaign I will be able to reveal some of the work that has been done in the early days.

Nice to see some of the polls are reflecting what we've know here for a long time. The Southwest is very much in play. Campaigns such as ours and Al Gretzky in London West, that have been working for over a year, are starting to reap the rewards of that work. Some suprises are on the way that nobody expects - we like that.