Martin's crumbling base

Before PMPM can make any claim at all to try to win swing voters, maybe he should work on getting his own supporters to agree with his policies - as the Charter bombshell from last night hasn't gone over well even in the Liberal camp:

"Nobody discussed it with me prior," said Toronto MP Derek Lee, the longest serving member of the Commons justice committee.

Other Liberal MPs and senators whose support would be necessary to amend the constitutional clause complained that Martin's debate pronouncement "came out of left field," as one MP put it privately.

They were confused about how such a change could be implemented and a number of MPs made it clear they'd oppose it.

"I would support retention of the notwithstanding clause," said Mississauga South MP Paul Szabo.

Lee said he's open to debating the idea but, in general, his view on constitutional matters is: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."...

Senator Jim Munson, Chretien's former communications director, said he couldn't speak for the vacationing former prime minister.

But Munson said his own view is that the clause is "a safety valve and I don't quite understand why we are fiddling" with it.

It's amusing enough to see the policy go over like a lead balloon within Martin's party. But it's all the more striking that the supposed reformer of the Liberal party is now imposing major policy announcements with no notice even to the Liberal MPs most familiar with the topic.

Mind you, there is some good news for Martin now. Any lack of internal consultation shouldn't be much of a problem for him from here on in, as Lib candidates hoping to have a political future have to be positioning themselves as far from PMPM as they can in the weeks leading up to election day.