Then you win

Most of the post-election commentary discussing the New Democrats' strategy of auditioning Jack Layton for the role of Prime Minister has either criticized Layton for even suggesting the possibility of an NDP government, or portrayed the campaign as a failure for not achieving that lofty goal on the first try. But let's take another look at where the New Democrats are now compared to the start of the campaign - and how the NDP looks to be positioned for elections to come.

To start off, let's keep in mind Gandhi's quote which has served as the inspiration for the netroots movement in the U.S.:

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

As recently as 2006, Layton and the NDP were shy about even hinting at the possibility of forming government later on. And that made it far too easy for the other parties - particularly the Libs, but including the Cons and Bloc as well - to simply ignore the NDP's message during the campaign.

This time out, the effort to present Layton as a Prime Minister in waiting definitely received some ridicule at the time. But it looks to have paid dividends in forcing the other parties to mention the NDP as a real alternative. And in particular, the Libs' messaging by the end of the campaign was actually based on asking voters to think about an image (however distorted) of how the NDP would govern, rather than simply pretending Layton could never take power or laughing at the idea.

Even better, the NDP's messaging from this year's campaign should provide a foundation to build the party's image even more. Now that a public link has been drawn between Layton and the Prime Minister's role, it should seem like far less of a reach to start portraying the rest of the New Democrat caucus as a cabinet in waiting, and presenting the party's policies as a governing platform rather than a tasting menu for future Lib governments.

Of course, the fighting stage doesn't figure to be an easy one. But the NDP's stronger relative position now should ensure that there's no turning back from the position that the party deserves to be seen as a real governing alternative. And now that Canada has already been through one election campaign where the prospect of Jack Layton as Prime Minister served as more of a positive than a negative for the New Democrats, there's every reason for optimism that the last part of Gandhi's road map is within sight.