Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Election Time 2008
We Canadians are a fortunate bunch. As if the excitement surrounding the American Presidential race wasn't enough, we get our own election running at the same time.
Early on, Stephane Dion looks like the weakling Stephen Harper has been portraying him as. He's running, as many Liberal's before him have, on a strictly anti-Conservative platform.
An interesting poll that was up on canoe.ca yesterday asked the question "If you could vote for anybody in the following election...", with Canada's current party leaders listed with Barack Obama, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. Not good results for Stephan Dion. He was in last place with 5% of the vote, behind even the evil-Republican-Bushite John McCain (who had 6%). Also bad news for Dion, Harper was significantly ahead of everybody else, even media-darling Barack Obama.
Harper is also playing his economic credentials correctly. While Dion is proposing a massive tax "shift" and announcing all kinds of new spending, Stephen Harper is set to roll out a cut in the diesel-fuel tax. One option will make life more affordable for Canadians, the other a confusing shell-game that ultimately will end up with Canadians paying more in taxes.
On the American front John McCain seems to have stolen all of the momentum from Barack Obama by selecting the fiery Sarah Palin as his running mate. Seeing as momentum was all that Obama ever had going for him, it could be rough times ahead for the Democratic nominee. Not that he's out of the race by any stretch, but he will have to start getting into policy in detail if he's going to win this thing come November.
The next couple of months will be interesting times. As for predictions, I'm calling an ultra-slim Harper majority, and McCain will take it in a walk south of the border.
Early on, Stephane Dion looks like the weakling Stephen Harper has been portraying him as. He's running, as many Liberal's before him have, on a strictly anti-Conservative platform.
An interesting poll that was up on canoe.ca yesterday asked the question "If you could vote for anybody in the following election...", with Canada's current party leaders listed with Barack Obama, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. Not good results for Stephan Dion. He was in last place with 5% of the vote, behind even the evil-Republican-Bushite John McCain (who had 6%). Also bad news for Dion, Harper was significantly ahead of everybody else, even media-darling Barack Obama.
Harper is also playing his economic credentials correctly. While Dion is proposing a massive tax "shift" and announcing all kinds of new spending, Stephen Harper is set to roll out a cut in the diesel-fuel tax. One option will make life more affordable for Canadians, the other a confusing shell-game that ultimately will end up with Canadians paying more in taxes.
On the American front John McCain seems to have stolen all of the momentum from Barack Obama by selecting the fiery Sarah Palin as his running mate. Seeing as momentum was all that Obama ever had going for him, it could be rough times ahead for the Democratic nominee. Not that he's out of the race by any stretch, but he will have to start getting into policy in detail if he's going to win this thing come November.
The next couple of months will be interesting times. As for predictions, I'm calling an ultra-slim Harper majority, and McCain will take it in a walk south of the border.
Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, politics, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper
