Election Called

I probably won't be blogging this one, seeing as I haven't been blogging at all in the past couple years and am mostly out of the loop about which blogs are even worth reading these days beyond a few.

However, I thought it might be worth making a few points...

The issue of Stephen Harper violating the spirit of his own election scheduling law isn't going to get very far. The opposition needs to welcome the election if they want to form the government. Personally, I never liked fixed election dates, but I do see it as another example of the Conservatives' holier-than-thou approach in opposition being pretty close to hipocracy.

On the bigger question of what to expect, people seem reasonably satisfied so that looks good for Harper. But anything can happen. The factors that are going to matter are:

-How will Dion come across? Can he connect?

-Which way will the wild card, Quebec, turn?

-What positioning will the Liberals take and how will it fly?

If I was working for Dion, I'd advise him to run on the economy and suggest that Harper is less trustworthy when it comes to fiscal management and has deficits on the way. The economic prognosis is quite different in different parts of the country and the new Environics poll shows people are feeling it. Harper hasn't played nice with Ontario, so Dion's chances depend on what he can do with that.