So it's been going now for almost two weeks -and the path forward is reasonably clear. The challenge is that all the parties see the pre-Christmas period as a bit of a throw-away. They don't want to be seen as complacent - because they know the others will accuse them as being disinterested. They don't want to lay out their entire platform, because they still want to have some stuff to announce in early January to garner some headlines.
But, there is the first debate coming up in Vancouver shortly, and it's a bit tough to go into a debate without some planks in your platform, or you won't have much to stand on when it comes to pushing your points. Lets hope the first debate can be moderated with a bit of structure and not turn into an exercise in simultaneous talking.
The media coverage has been as entertaining as the party performance. Global news seems to be a broken record, as probably the most biased "news" coverage in the country (from a so-called Nation-wide station) they are playing a single track. Each newscast seems to say "The Liberals are slipping in the polls" and then they play tons of Harper announcements and get (vaguely supportive) reactions. CTV and CBC coverage seems to be more balanced, but CBC policy seems to be talking out both sides of their mouth. I applaud their idea in the last election to not focus on the Polls, as that approach can create the old self-fulfilling-prophesy-syndrome. And, of course, that is why some polling companies seem to push their preferred parties. Announce it and the public will say "Jeeze, the Liberals are slipping - no way I'm going to support those losers."
But, while they started their cowverage off saying they would again refrain from reporting on Polls once the campaign started, I seem to see a lot of poll coverage on their organs. The CBC One radio coverage even started with poll info on the News lead-in at least once in the last few days.
Kudo's to Mike Duffy on CTV for commenting on the Conservative lame-o advertising. I've been pointing out how the Harper ads look like crap. Some deer-in-the-headlights actor playing a woman journalist 'interviewing' Harper, and graphics, effects and copy that sound like it was a high school project.
Mike Duffy was commenting on the Conservative advertising in Quebec, trying to counter the Bloc, and mentioned that the ads in English Canada look like they were put together by a group of kids in advertising school. Glad to see that others are noting that.
Not sure what kind of a message it sends to voters to appear amateurish and klunky, when you want to project that you can run the country. That's probably the biggest benefit to the Liberals out their right now, in my humble opinion.
I think it is the intangible sense of a parties style that makes or breaks the shiftable vote. There is a big chunk of voters out there who will vote a certain way barring anything but a major meltdown. When it comes to the crucial Ontario vote (in terms of swinging the size of the coming minority), credibility based on subtle perception will be most important.
So in closing this brief commentary, here's my perspective of how things are looking currently.
Conservatives: Awkward, walking on eggshells, throwing out announcements willy-nilly, most of which are based on news-hooks and sound bites. Driving the media seems to be working in terms of getting lead-story time.
Liberals: Project the we're busy governing, and are the only competant party look. Largely keeping the powder dry until after Xmas, and setting up photo op's that paint a flattering picture
NDP: The usual differentiation strategy - we're not like those guys - with an astute chunk of milking the influence they were able to weild in the minority parliament.
Greens: Hey we're here and we don't get much respect. They seem to be saying we're more than just the environment, but they are not punching through with the big messages. They need some good beefy, solid maple in their platform. Two or three planks that aren't overtly environment, but that they can repeat to the point of nausea, where-upon the media will finally get it.
Bloc: Just keeps hyping the big bad liberals: "THEY" did this to "US" The federalist forces really need to find a sensitive way to say that the "THEY" in this case is a bunch of corrupt Quebecers. Put in the Bloc and you can just as easily have another big raft of corrupt Quebecers. Liberals should point out that they will be extra careful going forward, given their current black eyes, and will thus be more squeaky clean than anyone else.
My biggest gripe this week: All the Quebec coverage is about the Bloc. I've seen no coverage of alternatives in prominent ridings. The media doesn't need to take a pro-federalist stance (although a little bias in that direction would be reasonable - as reasonable as Global pushing Harper so hard). Just having balanced coverage of the fact that there are other people running in Quebec would be nice. WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES? We never get to see.
A Bientot....
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