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• So, we got hitched down by the ocean. Nothing fancy, lots of family and friends, Hot Nasties reunion, lobster, weather was great. And I got to marry my best friend. Not bad.
• Kind messages were received from Jean Chretien, John Turner, Kathleen Wynne, Dalton McGuinty, John Tory and Laureen Harper. Thoughtful words sent along by lotsa other folks, too, of every political persuasion.
• In attendance at the wedding? Politicians, politicos, hacks and hackettes. And, between courses, there was a lot of gossip about the election taking place back home. Here’s a sampling of observations, synthesized.
• “It’s a bit like an American election.” Down here, primaries and general elections go for month after month after month. There’s tons of advertising, intermittent debates, and very little public attention paid to the proceedings. Sound familiar?
• “It’s the pre-season. Nobody’s paying attention.” Unless and until there is something to persuade them to pay attention – like an exciting candidate (Obama 2008) or a candidate to be angry about/with (Trump 2015) – Joe and Jane Frontporch are much more preoccupied with soaking up the last of summer’s rays, or getting the kids ready for school, or whatever. They simply have not clicked in to this election.
• “Trump represents a new kind of politician, like Rob Ford.” They are angry, populist, and they say whatever pops into their tiny craniums. But there is clearly a constituency for what they are saying, and how they are saying it. In the Canadian election, there is no one like them. Harper is the incumbent, Trudeau has spent more time at 24 Sussex than Harper has, and Mulcair is fully a part of the Central Canadian Establishment, however much he denies it. So who gets the growing Angry Vote?
• Anyway, gotta go. Got a tent to take down, and the remaining rentals to take back. It’s a bit foggy still, but we wish you were all here with us later on, to have a drink down on the beach, and talk politics. Have a terrific day back home. See you tomorrow.

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No KCCCC today. Getting, you know, married. 

That’s me and my gal before the Red Sox game this week. She makes me pretty happy. 

She is smart and sensitive and strategic and strong and sexy. She is brilliant and beautiful. She is fun and funny and fabulous. She is my best friend, and she still takes my breath away when she walks in the room. 

In a few hours we get hitched, with all our six kids and family and friends and assorted punk rockers there for the party.  Wish all of you were, too. 

Today, Kinsellabration!

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They play I Am A Confused Teenager! They’re not teenagers anymore! The Palma Violets sort of like this song! Four people were there to witness history!

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• A loose cannon: Noun – a person who cannot be controlled and who does or says things that cause problems, embarrassment, etc., for others
• There are a few rolling around on deck, today. Now, of course, whether someone is a “loose cannon” or not is quite subjective. It is in the eye of the cannon beholder, you might say. I’ve been called one, in my day. But I believe that you sometimes need to take big risks, in order to score on an opponent. Like with this trip down memory lane. (My good pal Jon Kay said I won the 2000 election with that stunt, but that isn’t true. Anyway, I digress.)
• Randy White is a loose cannon. And he’s back in the news, broadly hinting that he’s going to be voting for the godless socialists. My only advice to my Bolshevik pals? Be very, very careful. This is the same guy who sank the Conservative campaign in 2004, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, when he mused out loud about overruling judges and the Charter.
• Asa was a loose cannon, too. And as we documented on these pages yesterday, the charming Calgary Liberal candidate had some decidedly less-than-charming things to say about others. To her credit, Asa decided she had become a liability and pulled the plug.
• Donald Trump is the Father of all Loose Cannons. But he’s using his enhanced loose cannon status to win the Republican race and now, look quite competitive with the Democratic Party front runner. To wit, being a loose cannon can raise all boats just as much as it can sink all boats. Trump is proving that, at a historic level. However much he is a racist piece of human garbage, he’s doing it.
• Loose cannons roll around on the deck, sure. But sometimes they can score a direct hit on the other side, too. As Chrétien used to say me: “If you don’t try, you won’t lose. But if you do try, you might win.” Fire!

 

 

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I attracted several worried stares, but I cared not. Friendship comes first.

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KINGSTON – ‎If there is anything remarkable about campaign 2015, it’s that it isn’t remarkable at all.
Despite all the Sturm und Drang about Nigel Wright’s testimony, or the leaders’ debate, or ‎the attack ads, nothing seems to be registering.

It has been a meandering, vague sort of affair, one without a centre. It’s the Seinfeld campaign‎, to invoke a Nineties cliche.

1984,1993 and 2006 were about throwing the bums out. 1988 was about an actual issue. 2008 and 2011 were about Tim Hortons vs. Starbucks. 1997, 2000 and 2004 were about ‎sticking with the Known over the Unknown.

2015? It’s about nothing, so far.

The New Democrats, flush from the victory in Alberta and a fistful of promising polls, had been dreaming about redecorating 24 Sussex. They seemed confident, even cocky.

Not so much anymore. The NDP war room has been AWOL from the start – and Tom Mulcair has sounded like Medicated Tom, not Angry Tom. His debate performance was the worst of all the leaders. And his party has badly stumbled over controversies involving candidates, on everything from keeping oil in the ground, to accusing Israel of war crimes.

The Liberals, meanwhile, needed a solid debate performance by Justin Trudeau, and he gave them one. In the days following the debate, however, Trudeau made two critical errors ‎that undercut whatever he achieved in the debate.

One, he fell into the hole the Conservatives and the New Democrats dug for him – with “just not ready” and “not up to the job,” respectively – and he commenced digging deeper.

Instead of changing the channel on the Tory/Dipper narrative, Trudeau embraced it. He attempted to answer the allegation, in TV spots and campaign appearances. “I’m ready,” he said, doing precisely what his opponents had hoped he’d do.

Departed Liberal guru Keith Davey said it best. “If the other guys says you’re fat,” the Rainmaker once famously observed, “Don’t say ‘I’m not.’ Say: ‘You’re ugly.'”
Trudeau’s second mistake was providing evidence in support of the attacks. At a campaign stop out West, Trudeau said: “We’re proposing a strong and real plan, one that invests in the middle class so that we can grow the economy not from the top down the way Mr. Harper wants to, but from the heart outwards.”

The Sun chain and the National Post had a field day with the “from the heart” line. The Sun even put Trudeau’s head on a Care Bear on its front page. Later, no less than the CBC got in on the act, and some Liberals started to privately wonder if they were witnessing a Stockwell Day of the Left. Will we now measure our GDP with hugs?

Define or be defined: nothing matters as much in politics as that. And, as long as Trudeau continues to debate the way in which his opponents have defined him, he will remain where he is – in third place.

The Conservative campaign, meanwhile, has not been without its challenges, the aforementioned Duffy trial among them. There has been the Oshawa Conservative MP inviting children to a fundraiser at a gun range – and there has been the spectacle of the Tory campaign battling with a provincial Premier over a pension plan, when said Premier’s name isn’t even on the ballot.

In the main, though, a campaign about nothing probably favours the Prime Minister. He knows that he is unlikely to ever win any Mr. Congeniality contests. But he is also likely grateful that the campaign has not turned solely into a referendum about him.

Instead, if there is anger, it has yet to crystallize around a single issue or theme. ‎Despite the predictions of the commentariat, nobody seems to be particularly angry about the fact that the campaign happened early, or that it is so long. They don’t seem to be angry about anything.

Here in Kingston, in a riding the Liberals have held for decades, the candidate is a mouthy, unintelligent former mayor. He has signs up around town, but they all seem to be on public land.

On Kingston’s privately-owned front lawns – and on lawns from Kingston to Kelowna – not many signs‎ are up. Nobody seems to be paying much attention to Election 42.

That may be because it is still Summer. That may be because the campaign so long.

My hunch: it’s because it is a campaign about nothing. And nothing is what Canadians are thinking about it.

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Soon to be replaced by another one. (Getting marriage licence this morning.)

  

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• I’m on a beach in Maine. Lala is asleep, as are most of our four teenage boys. I am watching people do odd yoga things or walk their dogs. 
• The election seems far, far away. However, sometimes you get a note that is so thoughtful, so pithy, it brings back the wonder and joie de vivre of campaigns in a rush. Here it is, and have a good one. I know I will. 

   
 

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• Did you know? You can’t get anything gluten-free at Dunkin’ Donuts? Or that they call Lala “a model”? (She is more beautiful than that, if you ask me.)
• Anyway. Gotta get on the road soon. So here’s sentence fragments from my next Hill Times column. 
• Election year themes: “1984,1993 and 2006 were about throwing the bums out. 1988 was about an actual issue. 2008 and 2011 were about Tim Hortons vs. Starbucks. 1997, 2000 and 2004 were about ‎sticking with the Known over the Unknown. 2015? It’s about nothing, so far.”
• The Dippers “have badly stumbled over controversies involving candidates, on everything from keeping oil in the ground, to accusing Israel of war crime.”
• The Grits “needed a solid debate performance by Justin Trudeau, and he gave them one.”
• The Cons’ “campaign, meanwhile, has not been without its challenges, the aforementioned Duffy trial among them. There has been the Oshawa Conservative MP inviting children to a fundraiser at a gun range – and there has been the spectacle of the Tory campaign battling with a provincial Premier over a pension plan, when said Premier’s name isn’t even on the ballot.”
• There you go. All I can do today. Have a good one! Beach, here we come!

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