Round 1 to McNeil

The general consensus from last night's provincial leader's debate seems to be that Stephen McNeil was the winner by virtue of the fact that he exceeded all expectations, as well as the fact that he chose to articulate policy rather than get into attacks on his opponents. He was clear, concise and explained what he would do and how. If I have one complaint it's that he was far too wooden; he needed to move his arms more, smile and show some personality.

Dexter did well enough as well, coming across as Premier-esque, although he stumbled several times and made a few cheap shots. Dexter isn't the best talker, which isn't a horrible thing but it definitely is a liability during a debate. As I've said before, I like Dexter and I like many of the NDP's ideas and intentions, but I don't feel the NDP are a realistic party to be in government. They do well in the role of the "social conscience" of the Liberal or Conservative government currently in power wherever they are, but in government they are destined to fail.

MacDonald did very poorly. Rather than give us a reason why we should re-elect the PC's, he just kept up the "NDP=bad" rhetoric. After the twentieth time, it got tiring. It had me thinking, "Okay, fine; the NDP suck. But what is YOUR plan?" He looked nervous, and the poll released earlier that day showing the NDP with a 8 point lead on the PC's probably didn't help matters. MacDonald was given a chance to show us why we should trust him for another 4 years and he didn't do that. In fact, if anything, he gave us more reasons why we shouldn't.

There's one more debate coming up and it'll be MacDonald's last chance to show us why he deserves another shot, Dexter's last chance to explain to us why an NDP Government isn't going to be the bogeyman that everybody paints them as, and McNeil's last chance to show us that there is, indeed, a 3rd choice.

McNeil and the Liberals have the most room for movement and they know it.

I currently predict an NDP Government (likely still a minority) with a Liberal Official Opposition and the PC's in 3rd party status.

Check around the 'net and you'll see most people agree with me.