Wow, that didn't take long

OK, so let's pretend you're Stephen Harper, just for a minute. If you want to, you can even comb your hair like he does, just to get into character, but I wouldn't recommend it. You might inujure yourself. Now, everybody agrees that your biggest challenge the next eight weeks is appealing to 'Central Canada' and making inroads in the 416 area code, the 613 area code, maybe even the 514 area code - you want to connect with the "moderate" voter, with the person who might still be a little put off by your alleged 'hidden agenda'. You want to say to these people, "look, I'm not scary. I'm not some doctrinaire social conservative. I won't turn the country into one giant Leave it to Beaver rerun."

So...an HOUR into the election campaign yesterday morning, you decide to broach the subject of holding a free vote on same-sex marriage, unprompted, without even being asked about it by a scribe. Aside from hardcore religious fundies, nobody, even people who were opposed to same-sex marriage when it was an issue, cares (look at page nine) about this anymore. It's time to move on. You lost. Scoreboard. I don't understand why he's playing to his base, instead of to the people whose support he needs to solicit if he wants, to, you know, win, which I thought was the objective here. Why is he dredging up this issue again?

"Hey, while we're at it, I don't think women should be able to vote. I don't think the issue of women's suffrage was ever truly debated by Parliament, and I think it should be subjected to a free, non-whipped vote in the House."

Sometimes, I really do think this guy is a Liberal plant.