On life rafts

It's entirely true that there's little for the Cons to like in the latest Leger Marketing poll. But while the poll obviously shows that respondents have little confidence in the Harper government, it also hints at how the Cons can drag the Libs down with them.

The latest numbers show only 40% of respondents approve of the Cons' handling of the economy, with 48% disapproving. And the Cons' approval rating is down to 38%, with 51% disapproving.

Which makes it less than surprising that both the Cons as a party and Stephen Harper individually now find themselves in a weak position compared to the Libs - but due in large part to their surprising strategy over the last month or so. Remember that rather than accurately portraying the Libs' budget capitulation as a sign of agreement, the Cons instead tried to take sole credit for its contents - apparently gambling that if the economy turned on a dime, then any ability to take sole credit would make for an easy path to a majority.

Of course, with the budget now properly seen as insufficient, the Cons have instead been alone on the hook for its failings. But absent any realistic prospect of the Libs bringing them down anytime soon, the Cons would still seem to have time to take the road which seemed to make more sense from the beginning - particularly now that they've managed to sow the seeds for an "Ignatieff is weak" argument later on through their recent brinksmanship.

Rather than playing up conflict with the Libs, they still have every opportunity to paint the budget as a bipartisan effort which could never have passed without Ignatieff's support - ensuring that Ignatieff gets to wear an equal share of the blame when it proves unpopular. And the leadership numbers which show Ignatieff ahead can be particularly easily turned against the Libs given that he himself stated an effective preference to keep Harper in power.

Again, that course of action may hold less perceived upside for Harper than the current plan, as it would seem likely to reduce the ability of either the Libs or Cons to create a gap compared to the other. But with the current path clearly not leading the Cons where they want to go anytime soon, one has to figure that there's another change of direction in the Cons' future. And if the Cons can succeed in sticking the Libs with an equal share of responsibility for their own continued economic mismanagement, then the Libs' current numbers based on a contrast with the Cons would figure to have nowhere to go but down.