MacKay vs. O'Toole.

I won't bullshit you. Before these debates, I was worried like hell -- wondering how successful Team O'Toole might already have been in sewing up second choice support. It's quite frankly rather comical to see either O'Toole or MacKay trying to make a play for social conservatives when they each have so little in common with them in the first place.

But if the debates taught me anything it's that O'Toole has that deer in the headlights look. He now comes across as panicking and desperate to seal the social conservative deal. That makes me think that he hasn't got the numbers to prevent MacKay from reaching the holy grail of 50% + 1 on the first ballot.

People say MacKay did well in both debates but I don't see it that way: that tit for tat dive-bombing between a no-holes-barred O'Toole and give as good as he got MacKay came off as a complete dud in Quebec. It went over really badly in this province. In short, from a Quebec perspective, it was an unmitigated disaster that buoyed both Liberal and Bloc spirits. 

But Thank the Lord for last night. I'm pretty much of the same view as Martin and Ivison. MacKay came to life, as if reborn, and wiped the floor with the unfortunate O'Toole. So, Peter by virtue only of his own performance has finally got his mojo back. It's about time. However, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. All I ask God is that MacKay's new upward trajectory continue uninterrupted right up to the ballot counting.