Jaw-dropping

"Liberals agree not to run candidate against Green leader" says the CBC.

Well...won't this be grist for a number of people's mills.

My initial, fleeting thought - "what a horrendously bad political move for Dion to make" - lasted for about fifteen minutes. But, then I pondered.

And it occured to me that the Liberals (who came in third in 2006 in Central Nova, with just 24% of the vote) weren't going to win against Peter Mackay anyway.

Whereas Elizabeth May, sucking up the support of Liberals, NDPers (the second place party in 2oo6 with 32%), old-school PC types, the 1.6 percent of people who voted Green last time, and May's high school friends, just might. Not for sure, but far more likely than if there were a Liberal candidate in the mix.

What would have been really canny (though probably impossible) would have been to convince the NDP to not run a candidate either. Can't you just see the wonderful symbolism: Canadian progressives agreeing to give the Green Party a seat in the House (and the televised leader's debates), while almost certainly ensuring the defeat of a boorish, high-profile Conservative turncoat?

Anyway, Dion's gonna get PILES of flack. Pundits (and some Liberals) will ask why he doesn't simply join the Green Party, as he's tacitly endorsing its policies and leader. In fact, May will likely join with the Liberals on almost every vote in the Commons (someone, with more time than me, I challenge you to find a spot where the two parties' platforms are substantively different), so in a parliamentary context, it's actually a remarkably astute move.

I'm just a little concerned that, PR-wise, it's going to be a disaster.
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UPDATE: Well, that wasn't so awful. Could get worse when the columnists weigh in tomorrow. One thing's for sure: Jack is seriously ticked off. Maybe he should try to do something to garner as much publicity as May just picked up - like maybe getting in on the "deal"?

But man, did Dion's English sound better at that news conference today. Much better. And Elizabeth May is delightful - her anecdote to Carol Off on CBC's As It Happens about talking to Dion on a pay phone in a Chinese restaurant was gold. Besides, how many times can Conservative MPs spew out tidbits like "this is all about Dion's lack of leadership" or some such without people becoming a little tired of the repetition? Law of diminishing returns, anyone?