The Clown Show Files Redux I

Yee haa!!! Another edition of the clown show files has just opened up with Dion's departure.

Martin Couchon: "What I'm doing now is that I'm testing the water, phoning people, a bit like John Manley is doing..."


John Manley:"I'm not jumping off the diving board until I'm pretty sure there's some water in the pool."

Better make sure that the water hasn't been peed in either before either of you make the plunge...

Some initial thoughts:

-The Liberal Party brand needs rebuilding. The type of rebuilding that takes years. If the Liberals are serious about regaining power they have to start thinking about a long decade long trek out of the dark. And they need to start thinking about who has the longevity to do that.

-Where's Iggy or Rae? The silence says something.

-Cauchon, Manley, and Leblanc are the first to start going public with leadership bids or meanderings on bids - all Chretienites. Something tells me the old Chretien loyalists are brimming for a fight.

Incremental Change

These election results come bring one thought to mind: incremental change.

That was the motto of the Harper Conservatives three years ago. That was even Harper's motto when he was Canadian Alliance leader.

The basic idea is that a country doesn't change opinions overnight unless something drastic and temporary happens. If you want something substantial and permanent in terms of electoral results you need to change hearts. Changing hearts takes time. It doesn't happen overnight.

So for years the Harperites took time slowly planning every next election.

And tonight you see the beginning results.

All it takes is a quick look at the last 3 elections to see where this is going:

YEAR CPC LIB NDP BQ
2006 124 103 29 51
2004 99 135 19 54
2003 73* 161 19 44
*Reflects combined PC + Canadian Alliance seats

Tonight the Conservatives are hovering around 140 seats. 155 is not too far away.