More Plagiarism

For the second time in three days, the Liberals are accusing Stephen Harper of plagiarism. Today, they point to a 2003 speech where Stephen Harper's words are suspiciously inspired from... of all people... Mike Harris. The offense isn't as blatant as the previous one but still clear plagiarism.

The Conservatives are refusing to divulge the identity of the speechwriter which also suggests that it isn't the one responsible for the John Howard fiasco. It looks bad, once again, but it is unlikely to signficantly affect voter intentions. After all, it was 5 years ago!

Speaking of voter intentions, who won the English debate?

An Ipsos online poll held half way through the debate ranks Stephen Harper as the clear winner. However, it is an Ipsos online poll conducted half way through the debate...

I think Stephen Harper did fine, but I was more interested in the performance of Jack Layton vs. Stéphane Dion.

Layton spent the entire evening in attack mode. He pulled off the best one liners and staged many virulent attacks against the PM and Dion. Dion was the opposite. He made himself understood in English, tried to explain his plan, but nothing more.

Most people would easily crown Layton the winner of this batter, but I somehow don't think that his aggressive and eloquently over-the-top style went down well with left-wing voters hesitating between the Liberals and NDP. It would have been a hit in municipal politics or if he were vying for the right-wing vote, but I really think that he only ended up irritating his target electorate: urban, middle and lower class voters.

We'll get a better idea tomorrow in the polls.