May 25, 2004 - Ottawa Centre is touted as one of the 'spotlight' ridings this federal election, but until today, I had not seen any sign of the Conservative candidate Mike Murphy.

The reason for the spotlight stems in part from the decision taken by the former leader of the New Democratic Party, Ed Broadbent, to re-start his political career by running in the by-election. People love the political comeback story, especially when it's the "little guy" opposition; Ed Broadbent as Rocky Balboa, minus the pecs.

Another reason for the spotlight is the controversy over the September 2003 appointment of its four-term Member of Parliament Mac Harb to his dream job, Senator of Canada. Finally, there is the part where neither Chretien nor his successor, Prime Minister Martin, called a by-election to replace him, leaving Ottawa Centre unrepresented and without a vote in Parliament for nearly six months.

The conventional wisdom for this negligence was that Martin would call an early election. A by-election would just waste money, because the candidates would have to run for the seat again in the federal election. But when Martin sailed into a squall called Sponsorship, he scrapped the early election idea. Faced with pressure from the Ottawa Centre riding, he called a by-election on March 7, for November 29, 2004. Maybe he mistook Ottawa Centre for the United States presidential election. Maybe he wanted to give himself more time to cool the righteous flames of public anger. Maybe he wanted to give Mahoney the time to re-build support for his chosen candidate in the riding association of a Chretien Liberal.

In response to this farcical by-election call, Broadbent and Mahoney gamely set up offices and set loose their propaganda hounds on Ottawa Centre. Ed signs budded. Martin's face and name beamed from the office of Mahoney on the corner of Somerset and Bank Street. And the Conservatives were invisible.

So imagine my surprise this morning as I stumbled across a discarded Conservative pamphlet and then, at the ESSO on Bank and Gladstone Street, picketing supporters of the Conservative candidate for Ottawa Centre, Mike Murphy. "We're going to do this every morning. Not just here, but in other places, too," a bleach blond picketer told me, pumping the campaign sign at the passing traffic.

According to the pamphlet, Murphy is a member of a "new generation of leadership" to "Demand Better. For Ottawa Centre. For Canada." After reading this trite copy, all I wanted was a better pamphlet. If this was the new generation of leadership, why had he not campaigned for the 11 weeks preceding Martin's federal election call?

I asked the Murphy supporter why Ottawa Centre had no Conservative lawn signs. "Ed has topped his support, so you won't see many more [signs]," spinned the Murphy supporter. Then he said something which told me all I wanted to know about the Murphy campaign. Because Ed's signs had been up so long, he said, costs to replace them would stack up and that "will make a difference."

Incredulous, I wished him luck and left. Any campaigner or candidate who thinks lawn sign loss in a campaign makes a difference is inexperienced. But any campaigner who lets the competition gain an 11 week lead on him is irresponsible.

A vote for Murphy is a vote for stupidity. This incompetence leaves Ottawa Centre voters with one credible choice only: Liberal or New Democrat? Thanks, Mike.