Signs of desperation

Never mind polls or media narratives, the surest sign of panic among the Libs can be found in the party's choice of strategies to try to correct its course. And it's striking that Michael Ignatieff has resorted to the "we're your only choice" canard in the middle of a session of Parliament which was supposed to give the Libs their opportunity to inflict some damage on the Harper Cons.

Normally, the Libs tend to save that argument as an end-of-campaign trump card to pry votes away from the NDP and Greens. And there's good reason for not usually using it sooner, since it's the type of claim which both makes the Libs look arrogant and out of touch, and at the best of times looks shaky on the merits when the opposing parties have time to refute it.

But then, these aren't the best of times for the Libs - making the claim one which plays nicely into the hands of the NDP's strategy of presenting itself as precisely the viable alternative which Canadians want. Indeed, there's probably little the NDP would like more than for the media to spend a substantial amount of time on the question of which opposition party in Parliament is actually the more viable alternative to continued Harper government, rather than simply assuming that the Libs are next in line.

All of which means that Ignatieff's decision to go to the well now may both signal just how desperate the Libs are for the moment, and help ensure that the NDP is able to establish exactly the image which the Libs are trying to refute.