"Inside an Epic Battle"

This is the title of Paul Well's 35 page, 24 000 word piece for Maclean's about recounting the ups and downs of the Harper and Martin campaign (it's only the beginning few paragraphs) during this recent election. I actually read the whole thing at an Indigo's tonight because I know him to be a good writer and while reading his blog, I wanted to read what he had found while covering their respective campaigns

While I don't think there are any spectacular revelations in store, it certainly portrays an interesting picture of the hard work Stephen Harper had to put in to moderate his views and the views of his party, compose a comprehensive policy platform and effectively deliver this to the Canadian public. On the other hand, the Liberals seem to have coasted through much of the campaign in the expectation that they can scare voters into handing them a victory.

Two particular parts stood out. At one point midway through the campaign, some Liberals remarked that they needed their polling numbers to further sink behind the Conservatives than they had been in the hopes that it'll scare voters back. Wells likened it to satellites or other objects in space skimming dangerously close to the planet's atmosphere before it skips back out into space, aka 'the slingshot effect.' Wells remarked how dangerously dumb this strategy was, and any logical person would agree. This just seems to be a sign that the Liberals had nothing substantive to convince voters why the Liberals should be voted in. It smacks of laziness.

The second point is much more inconsequential. At one point, Wells discusses (I think) Klander's inappropriate remark about comparing Olivia Chow to a chow chow dog. He remarks offhand how this story spread through the blogosphere, particularly through Inkless Wells. If you don't know by now, Inkless Wells is his own blog.

Either way, it was a good read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of an election. I still maintain my guarded optimism about Harper's tenure as PM. A lot of people, including me, will be watching closely.

Here's a different opinion on the piece by Declan. What's more interesting are the comments, particularly Paul Wells' response to Declan's criticisms...