On losing one's troops

I'm not quite sure how this went largely unreported until today. But suffice it to say that Gilles Savard's campaign manager was just the tip of the iceberg:

Dozens, possibly hundreds, of supporters of former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien have been quietly working in this election against the party they backed for years, fuelling the Conservatives' campaign in many parts of Quebec.

While a few have been willing to come forward and talk about why they switched allegiance - at least for this election - many others prefer to work in the shadows, bringing the knowledge and talents they honed for years as Liberal organizers to bear for Stephen Harper's Tories...

"If I base it on what is happening here, I would say there are hundreds of people." (a former Liberal MNA) said he recognized dozens of former Liberal organizers at a recent rally for Harper in Montreal. "Liberal organizers, we know each other and we talk," he said. "They were there to take the pulse and offer their services."

Lorraine Dery, a veteran Liberal organizer in the Quebec City-area riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent and a former member of its riding executive, estimates at least half the Liberal organizers in the riding, or about 50 people, have moved to the Tories.

While PMPM's message during the campaign never changed from "stop Harper at all costs", surely it's worth a mention that Martin's leadership of the Libs has handed Harper an election machine in Quebec - and in all probability the keys to 24 Sussex as a result.

If this is Martin's idea of "fighting the Conservatives", then Canada has had about all the Conservative-fighting it can take. Fortunately, voters have a chance today to decide who they most want fighting the battle - and it looks like a good number will choose the general who hasn't handed half his army to the opponents.