Day 5: A few quick hitters this A.M.

Winner: Green party leader Elizabeth May for obvious reasons. The decision to include her in the TV debates is huge (and a momentum booster for her populist campaign), especially since she can now have the best of both worlds. What I mean by that is she can still be depicted as the victim with the mainstream media while stealing the spotlight in the debates (as I'm sure all eyes will now be on her on Oct. 1st/2nd). Which brings me to my next pick...

Loser: Peter Mackay. I don't pretend to know what goes on behind closed doors in campaign war rooms. However, with that being said, I'll go off on a limb here and speculate that there were a few chairs kicked in downtown New Glasgow, Nova Scotia after May was let into the debates. Things just started getting interesting in Central Nova folks!

Losers: The Liberal National Executive for their lack of respect for Dion. I'm sure they thought they were sending a clear message to Mr. Dion by letting the press get their hands on this transaction, but to the common voter (and I'm sure some Liberal members), it makes the party appear as if they are a bunch of bullies who don't trust Dion to do the right thing when, and if , he loses. It truly shows you that this party is not only a bunch of sore losers, they haven't learned from their very critical past mistakes. Not ready for prime time.

Local winner: Conservative candidate Rodney Weston for putting jobs front and center in Saint John. As my good buddy nbpolitico explains about Weston's recent strategy, "he has been campaigning quite effectively against the Liberal Green Shift plan, which would impose a carbon tax. Weston's argument is that the choice is between a new refinery and new jobs or a carbon tax and no new jobs." The message must be working because I see that even provincial Liberals, like Energy Minister Jack Keir, are backing away from their federal friends on this carbon tax proposal.

Update: In other news, Dion served up pancakes in Saint John, New Brunswick today at a breakfast. And I'm not talking about the food. lol

Update II: Harper is going even further in his attack of Dion's carbon tax plan, saying it will cause "a recession."

Losers: Consortium of television networks for coming across as a bunch of high handed bullies in their handling of the television debates. On the bright side, this whole May ordeal has exposed Canada's election debate process for what it is...a complete sham.