In their midst....

Here we are, 2 weeks into campaign madness. All the platforms have been revealed, the tour buses are parked in preparation for this week's debates, and one particular Prime Minister seems to be auditioning for Rick Mercer's job.....ATVs? Really?
Even the usually reticent voices of the CBC Radio broadcasters are sounding noticeably tired in their constant pre-campaign-ad disclaimers......'During the election, CBC Radio is obliged to air campaign ads during its regular broadcast......' I swear I heard a muffled groan the other day, right before Matt Galloway switched his mike off.......

I hope that along the way, dear campaigners, you have learned some lessons - most importantly, about how NOT to entice voters to vote for you:

Lesson 1: Don't completely ostracize a crowd of new Canadians with separatist language. They are not a separate species - they are incredible individuals, individuals who have made the enormously difficult and often painful choice to uproot themselves from their native lands to seek out what they can only hope is better than what they leave behind. They are people who have more courage and more stories and more life experience under their belts than any upper middle class white scholar turned politician will ever know. Don't be so exclusive in your language, sir, and consider reading your speeches once over before you open your mouth.

Lesson 2: When a young potential voter breaks themselves away from Jersey Shore long enough to look up the location of your rally and actually turns up to hear what you have to say, embrace it. As Rick Mercer points out at the dawn of each new election, there are millions of youth in this country, and if they all decided to get out there and vote, there could be a huge difference in the result. This year, in response to Rick's rant, thousands of university students nationwide have been rallying, promising that they'll vote. This is a good thing!
Some of these newbies showed up at rallies. Sometimes they were admitted. Sometimes not. Come on, people. Not only is it a new voter, but it's a new voter who's willing to do the legwork to research all of the options. This is the ideal voter in a democracy!
My biggest concern here is this:
When a regular voter is discouraged by a political party, what do they do? They turn around and vote for the other guy.
But a first-time voter? If their first point of contact with any politician is to be discouraged and turned away, they may not come back. At all. They may choose to stay home on election day.

Lesson 3: When you're called out for ejecting people from your rallies, don't try and make it an example of the mass numbers that turned out to see you "We're turning people away...."

And finally Lesson 4:
When you're called out for lying about why you were turning people away, and you attempt an apology, try and make it sound sincere! For heaven's sake, "We're obviously sorry...." just doesn't ring true, sir.
I don't think anyone's buying it.

On the other hand, I think that many out there are still buying in to a lot of other aspects of this campaign. I hold out little hope that anything will change post-May 2.

I do however love living in a country that asks 4 of the most important political superstars in the country to reschedule their debate, because there's a hockey game on.

Vive le Canada.