Rally cap

A slightly belated commentary on the NDP's Saskatchewan campaign launch this morning:

The big news was Layton's response to Harper's GST cut as being expensive and inefficient, and I have to like the NDP's angle. Harper's proposal is obviously less targeted toward the needs of most Canadians than the NDP's proposal to eliminate the tax altogether on necessary goods...and the mere fact that both involve GST reductions doesn't make Harper's idea a desirable one for the NDP.

Moreover, even if there was reason to think that an across-the-board GST cut could be as effective as a targeted one, there's still ample reason not to give Harper a free pass on anything at this point. The worst-case scenario for the NDP is for the Cons to pick up steam now so as to cause an anti-Harper swing late in the election. Layton thus needs to keep firing at both other parties - and he kept the guns blazing toward both this morning.

Not too much else was different from the NDP's usual message - lots of talk of equalization, failure to stand up to the U.S. on trade, health care, and "Harper is wrong rather than scary", all of which makes plenty of sense given the crowd. There was still no mention of any goal aside from "more seats in Parliament", though that was understandable given the regional nature of the rally. And the local Cons took a well-deserved beating for their failure to get anything accomplished.

In sum, the Saskatchewan campaign is off to a good start, and the national message is still very much on course. Hopefully that'll continue, and will be enough to take advantage of the NDP's obvious potential to connect with a large number of voters this time out.

(Edit: typo.)