January 11, 2006
PANIC MODE:
Liberals pull attack ad (SEAN GORDON, 1/11/06, Toronto Star)
The Liberals have launched a series of tough ads vilifying the front-running Conservatives, one of them so aggressive it was withdrawn before it aired on television.Conservative Leader Stephen Harper predicted the negative ads will backfire because the spots are "distorted" and "obviously untrue" — even as his party launched tough new commercials of its own.
But it was a Liberal ad that caused the biggest furor yesterday. Featuring an ominous military drumbeat and a black-and-white close-up of the Tory leader's eyes, it stated Harper would put "soldiers with guns" in Canadian cities.
The ad, which plays off a Conservative promise to boost the militia and never made it to TV, disappeared late yesterday from the Liberal party website.
If this race is shaping up anything like America's in 1980, Democrats then were likewise convinced that they could make Ronald Reagan appear such a trigger-happy whacko that he'd scare people. But the peanut farmer was far more terrifying.
MORE:
Mayors sense shift to Tories (LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN AND GAIL SWAINSON, 1/11/06, Toronto Star)
Ask local mayors who have their ears to the ground in Greater Toronto and they'll tell you the political mood is shifting in the vote-rich suburbs.In many municipalities, mayors say the polls back up what they are hearing on the street — the Liberals are in trouble and the Tories may be poised to make significant gains.
PM's best hope may be fear of a Tory majority (CHANTAL HÉBERT, Jan. 11, 2006., Toronto Star)
Liberal Leader Paul Martin is headed for Ontario today in a last-ditch effort to reverse the downward spiral that threatens to flush his Liberals out of government in 12 short days.Posted by Orrin Judd at January 11, 2006 7:56 AMIn the wake of the final debates of the campaign, Martin can only hope that the unexpected prospect of a majority Conservative government will give Ontario voters grounds to reconsider their decision to abandon his party.
If there is any chance of that happening, it will not be in francophone Quebec. After last night's sedate French-language debate, very little stands in the way of it becoming a Liberal wasteland, like Alberta, after Jan. 23.
Everyone knows the Canadian Army doesn't have any bullets, because the Liberals proudly refused to pay for them.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at January 11, 2006 12:59 PMAll that's needed to complete the similarity to '80 is for the CBC and CTV to announce the exit poll results early and then have the Liberals blame their losses in British Columbia on their mass of disheartened voters faling to go to the polls in the final hours.
Posted by: John at January 11, 2006 1:39 PM