And the Winner Is?

Well the Leaders Debate took place last night. Unfortunately I had other pressing matters to attend to so I missed a good portion of it, but what I did see was interesting. After reading many an article on how the pundits think the debate went I think my opinion is justified. As is normal with these debates all three leaders are walking away claiming victory, but who really won the debate.

Personally I hate calling winners in these debates, it seems so pointless. But this time I think there was indeed a clear winner. Howard Hampton won by a landslide I think. Now I know a lot of you will probably point out my bias as a NDP member and the fact that I admitted numerous times that I will be voting NDP. Let me just say though I think Howard Hampton has all the charisma of a doorstop. I’ve never met the man, maybe in person he is much more likeable, but I think the NDP could do much better with almost anyone at the helm. He’s not stupid, I think he is intelligent and well reasoned, there is no other reason for disliking him other then he is dull, at least Bob Rae had personality.

Ok, lets ignore that I just used the name of the most hated Premier in Ontario’s history and continue with my reasoning for declaring Hampton a winner. I think Hampton won because McGuinty and Tory all but ignored him. They fought amongst themselves and Hampton and Tory ganged up on McGuinty and Hampton and McGuinty ganged up on Tory, but very few volleys were fired at Hampton. Basically Hampton was given carte blanche to give his platform with very little criticism, while every point McGuinty and Tory brought up was slammed for one reason or another.

McGuinty spent the entire debate claiming Ontario was on the right road but that “there was more work to be done”. That became his mantra and it was repeated ad nauseam. Tory on the other hand could only rail on and on how he was going to provide more and more services while cutting more and more taxes, while maintaining a balanced budget. Hampton however maintained cool and put forth the NDP propaganda flawlessly, even if it was a little dull.