A6

By Rick MacLean

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Speak Up

As predicted, this election, at the federal level, appears to be coming down to a battle of personalities. And how that will affect the local result is, well, entirely up to you.

Setting up this vote as a clash between widely different personalities was the choice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Months before the election was called, the Tories were running attack ads mocking Liberal leader Stephane Dion as weak and not worthy of holding down the top job.

That seemed to earn little in the way of headlines until some over-eager staffer went too far once the election was called and added a dab of digital puffin poop to an ad slagging Dion. The Liberals tried to use it to make their case that Harper is too mean to be our leader and, who knows, maybe some of that stuck. But a staffer fell on their sword quickly enough and there was an apology, so the story died.

The flip side of the Conservative strategy was the attempt to both soften and burnish Harper's image, all in one go.

That's a tough one, but for much of this campaign, it seemed to be working. Sure, the blue sweater donned by the prime minister was seen as a blatant attempt to spin his image: Look at me, I'm a family man too. But cynical or not, the polls seemed to suggest it was working.

Meanwhile, his leadership credentials were polished up by his refusal to run off and start promising buckets of money to every group with its hand out, an age-old ritual at election time everywhere that a ballot is cast.

Then came the crash.

There's just no other way to describe what has happened to the financial markets in the last couple of weeks. Like a slow-motion avalanche, the disaster brought on by greed and lack of regulation in the American banking system has been building up speed. And in the last few days it has sparked panic and fear.

Normally in such a situation, people want their leader to be the one person immune to those emotions. But they also want to feel comforted.

And that's where Stephen Harper has struggled. He has said it himself, he's not the most emotionally demonstrative guy you'll ever meet. His reputation for not suffering fools gladly or well is deserved.

He's bright and, as bright people sometimes are he can be impatient with those who can't keep up.

That so-called empathy deficit, a deadly phrase probably invented in the Liberal war room, has become an increasingly large issue for Harper in the last week.

It probably reached its peak when, during an interview with CBC's Peter Mansbridge when the prime minister not only repeated his daily chant that our fundamentals are OK and we'll be fine, but he added there are probably good opportunities out there to buy under-valued stocks right now.

Ouch.

It's probably true. But it doesn't play well. Seniors looking at their retirement funds going up in smoke aren't amused. People worried about their jobs aren't happy. And such behavior plays right into the hands of critics eager to attack Harper where he's most vulnerable – his personality.

The Liberals, meanwhile, face their own struggle. Stephane Dion still looks like a nerd, albeit one who has had a good week. But his personality remains an issue. He looks awkward. And his thick accent when speaking English simply helps to strengthen that impression.

He has been forced to call on stronger personalities in his party to sell the ‘Liberal brand,' always a sure sign that selling the leader isn't going anywhere. Enter Paul Martin, Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff. The first is a leader who was better as a finance minister.

The other two want Dion's job.

Meanwhile, the NDP's Jack Layton and Green's Elizabeth May have earned grudging admiration from some, but voters must struggle with a number of issues before voting for their parties.

Neither one will form the next government. But voting for their local candidates helps, under the new federal financing rules, to put money into those parties, to the tune of $1.75 a vote. So parking a vote there might help those parties in an indirect fashion.

Swell, but voting for either one of them means not voting for the Conservatives or Liberals. And in an election the polls suggest may be too close to call, that could be seen as a big risk.

Do you park your vote with the Greens or NDP because you like their leaders more than either of the two main parties, and risk costing your local candidate and their party a win?

It's a tough call.

And it's your call to make.

Good luck Tuesday.

Author and former editor of the Miramichi Leader, Rick MacLean teaches journalism at Holland College in Prince Edward Island.