I'd Be Grumpy Too

I think I know why the NDP have been so grumpy lately. They must have had some advance knowledge of this poll:

It suggested the Liberals had the support of 35 per cent of respondents while the Tories were at 31 per cent, the NDP was at 12 per cent and the Green party was at 10 per cent.

Yikes! Only a two-point gap stands between the NDP and being knocked out of their perpetual third place. I wonder what the margin of error was for that poll...

The Decima poll of 1,025 respondents was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, and is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.

Uh-oh. The NDP/Green gap is within the margin of error. This is what they call a "statistical tie." Plus, the NDP -- and the Conservatives for that matter -- are probably still hurting from losing to the Green Party in the London North Centre by election. How embarrassing is that. ;-)

Keep watching those grey political skies. They may clear up soon.

Some Advice

The two campaigns in the London North Centre by election that went negative were the Conservative campaign (which went negative on the Liberals) and the NDP campaign (which went negative on the Greens). It's no coincidence that those campaigns finished third and fourth, behind the positive campaigns of the Liberals and the Green Party.

I bring this up because late last night the NDP sent out an email to their supporters (and moles like me). The first paragraph read:

There's a new Liberal leader but it's the same old Liberal party. After 13 years of broken promises and corruption, the Liberals have picked themselves a new front man. Their choice - an out of touch academic who spent 10 years in a scandal ridden cabinet and who's record as Environment Minister was condemned by environmentalists and the Environment Commissioner. Liberal arrogance - some things never change.

The second paragraph -- ready for this? -- was as follows:

Today Jack Layton offered his congratulations to Stéphane Dion, saying that he looked forward to debating the new leader in Parliament to get things done for today's families.

The second paragraph loses some of its sincerity coming after the first, doesn't it? Listen folks, we're not going to accomplish anything by being close-minded, mean, and partisan beyond reason. And if that isn't enough, Canadians increasingly won't vote for these kinds of politicians and parties. The London North Centre result showed that.

If I were in charge of the NDP's messaging, I'd turn the venom down a shade, or risk being poisoned by it.