And we’re off…

So I’m in Ottawa and things are hopping. The general consensus in the media is that the writ should drop on Friday or so, calling an election around 14 October. The NDP is doing well in the polls and people are feeling confident. All around me phones are ringing and it seems like I’m the only one without a BlackBerry (or a “BB”, to use the lingo). Not that I need one. I’m in a small cubicle with the communications department, amongst copy writers, graphic editors, and their ilk. We’re working on revamping the federal NDP’s website, which will be in use throughout the campaign. Twelve hours a day my screen usually just shows PHP code which I edit in vi, which I find always makes people think of the Matrix.

To start off these posts, let me first say that I cannot talk about what the NDP as a party thinks, or what they’re planning to do, except as has been reported in the media. Like everyone else who works for a political party I’ve signed a strict non-disclosure agreement, have promised to shred all paper I no longer need, and in general will be keeping my mouth shut about the upcoming high-profile chess match which will be taking place via press releases and media scrums in the weeks to come.

That said: anyone with access to Wikipedia can see that the NDP has historically done poorly after minority governments, sometimes losing half its seats; people often want a return to majority government. But that’s not what happened last time, and anyone with access to a newspaper can see that this is far from the case this time.

Let the games begin!