On white flags

CBC's coverage focuses on the withdrawal of the Green candidate from the Labrador riding. But more interesting to me is the lack of NDP and Con candidates so far - especially considering the significance the same riding was supposed to hold just a few months ago:

Labrador City Mayor Graham Letto represented the Tories in this byelection. With 3,415 votes, or 32 per cent of the total vote, Letto had the best showing by a Conservative candidate in more than two decades.

Calgary West MP Rob Anders, who was campaigning in Labrador last night, says a strong Tory showing in a safe Liberal seat can be interpreted as a sign of things to come.

"I think this means that what were formerly safe seats for the Liberals are up for grabs," Anders says.

From an NDP standpoint, it's disappointing not to see a candidate ready yet (especially given that there should seemingly be some structure left over from the by-election). But the utter lack of interest is a particularly huge change for the Cons.

Just last year, Harper and MacKay converged on Labrador based on the significance of the seat within a minority Parliament. And the result was a seemingly strong showing for the Cons, which one would think they'd want to build on. But now that there's a full election campaign, the Cons apparently can't be bothered to so much as nominate a candidate for a seat that they considered to be "up for grabs".