[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

IMO, all the party leaders had good performances are there was a virtual stalemate last night. I think views on the debates will only solifidy preconceived notions. No big winners which helps Harper.

Agreed, with the format slanted against the incumbant, the ideas and platforms of the opposition parties are irrelevant in the debate. The format only creates the requirement that the opponents of the incumbant have as many possible chances to land heavy blows against the Prime Minister as possible. All of the opposition parties failed to do this, so IMHO today, the debates did very little to change the voting landscape, there might have been some vote exchanges between the losing parties, but I don't think that the PC's will lose much in the way of votes, I also don't think they'll gain much either.

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

Harper again remained relatively calm under fire, but took some heavy hits with little or no return fire. I agree with the notion that his calmness and that smirk came off as arrogance to some though.

Harper is in that bad position of damned if he does damned if he doesn't. If he goes on the attack or shows any kind of anger, the press and the opposition cream him as mean and power hungry. I don't think that he took any hits that were particularly damaging, and even though his opponents left some major openings, Harper didn't go after them. I really wished that he would have gone after Layton on his spending platform. Harper's temper did flash a couple of times with the phrase "Lets be clear"

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

Duceppe was Duceppe, to the point and he got some good hits on Harper. I think he has further solidified his support and taken away from the Conservatives.

Duceppe has an easy job, and he did it well, I've said it many times, I think hes a very honest and sincere man, and his passion does show. He probably gained a lot of votes in Quebec, and he probably took a lot of votes away from the fence sitters in terms of Liberal and NDP votes.

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

Dion did much better than I anticipated, but in the minds of most I probably not enough. Harper really could not touch him, and he did he best to redress the Conservative falsehoods. Layton however, give him some trouble. A solid, but unspiring performance.

Is he ernest and sincere, sure, but I thought that he was terrible in his debate. He failed to gain any security on his green shift policy, and probably lost a lot of face in terms of Harper clubbing him on his 30 day economic plan, and page 78 of his own green shift document where he couldn't explain or prove his numbers. He didn't light up the room, and his participation was low. He also failed to overpower Jack Layton, which will probably cost him votes. His accusations about Bush politics and U.S. policies to me really fell flat and Harper defended himself well by admiting his mistake about Iraq. But I feel that the electorate might be worn out and not care about the hidden agenda neo-con accusations that the Liberals are throwing around.

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

I really did not know what to expect from May, but found her to be very strong and assertive, so much so that she at times was a little irritating (making her one-liners out of turn). Her base is a bit confusing though as she is trying to mix the environmental crowd with fiscal conservativism. Not enough in that mix to do real damage.

I honestly found her to be rude and irritating throughout most of the debate. She has a great and positive understanding of the environment, but I think she's get carved up on her stands on crime and foreign policy, and even her flub about income splitting made her look ill prepared for this debate. I honestly don't think that the average Canadian who is worried about the economy is going to be impressed with her ideas to kill the Canadian doller and some of her other economics is going to help her. Her soft on crime proposal and Afghanistan shows that she's out of touch. She might have gained some votes from the Libs or NDP, but I don't think she did enough to damage the governing party.

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

Layton, I think provided some of the most memorable quotes, but for the most part it's the same old anti-corporate stuff. Does that resonate now with fears of the financial crisis heading North? Probably not.

Outside of his one liners, I think Jack blew this debate for the NDP, especially when he went after the Oil companies and energy producing provinces which will hurt his standings in AB, BC, SK where he was hoping to make some headway. He was exposed once with an outright lie (arts and censorship), and he got stomped on the health care issue. His tax corporations will probably not ride well with anyone who's looking at job security either. I think Layton did a terrible job, but might have gained some liberal votes due to his attack on a subdued Dion.

Originally Posted by mrdeeds

Bottom line is that unless something dramatic happens, IE Converatives making serious gaffes or coming out with a great, big-tent platform. It will pretty much be status quo. A Conservative minority with the Liberals as Official Opposition. The ball is in Harper and Co.'s court.

I agree, but I don't really feel comfortable with declaring the Libs as the opposition, Dion didn't help himself at all yesterday.