[skippy the wonder dog]

Now, with some Liberal-bashing, they have spent the first two weeks of this campaign outlining their platform instead of just finger-wagging at the Liberals. That's a much better campaign if you ask me.

It is, without a doubt, a much better campaign. But they actually started the 2004 campaign the same way, before it got derailed.

So far they face no real competition, as Martin is lying low and the conventional wisdom always sees a two-way race. Whether they'll be able to keep their momentum is an open question.

If I was a Conservative strategist, I'd be worrying about the length of the campaign and my party's ability to keep dominating the discussion by releasing new policies. The last thing I'd want would be for my campaign to falter, and then for Martin to turn it around and start setting the agenda around some of my less palatable ideas.

For example, a lot of people have theorized that the same sex marriage announcement was a means of getting it out of the way, and burying it behind other proposals (like the GST cut). But the instant you stop making announcements, pow, Martin can take the initiative and resurrect it. And I expect Martin to start running a negative campaign later on -- trying to stand with one foot on the economy and the other on Stephen Harper's unpopularity.