Wherefore are thou, Belinda, Tony and Steve?

Where's Belinda? Perhaps a helpful book along the lines of Where's Waldo, might be of use to those of us showing a cursory interest in the Conservative leadership race. Not wanting to appear in any public debates with her two Conservative compatriots, we're left to watch her campaign through the lens of a TV camera, a fleeting wave as she heads into yet another private function. Never really sure what she stands for, we're left to wonder if she's not just doing this as an expensive lark.

Not that she's alone in her invisible strategy, I can't say as I've seen or read much about Tony Clement, who from all reports has entered the Conservative race as well. He makes the occasional foray into the Western territories, crashing Harper events to gain publicity. If he's been on a talk show, or spoken to a newspaper reporter it must have been by sign language or in Braille.

The acknowledged front runner, well perhaps front runner is too strong, the guy that at least makes the nightly news from time to time is Stephen Harper. He at least is getting some face time and answering the odd question. But his candidacy has hit a brick wall, called the Ontario/Manitoba border, and that's just a minor inconvenience. If he thinks the reception is lukewarm in Ontario, he should just wait. His real problem is going to be Quebec. Ms. Stronach's political machine is using the proven tactics of the Mulroney era, finding Tories where no Tory may have dared to go before, and no doubt returning them from whence they came later on.

While Harper has managed to solidify his hold on the west, he's about to find that his thousands of Alliance members turned Tories, will be the equal of hundreds of Belindaphiles turned Tories. It's not the number of actual voters in the riding association you can attract, but the amount of riding associations you can win. Whether the riding has 500 or 10 paid up semi loyal Tories, the vote count is the same. If the Stronach people can manage their numbers properly they'll be able to nullify Harper's western block in no time. Won't that create a nice little optical nightmare for a supposedly national party. Harper's wriggle room is getting smaller and smaller with each passing day.

But all of this is playing out without any of us having a clue, the major players keeping the lowest profile possible for a major political event. Things are so bad, they're not even being mocked by the likes of Air Farce, 22 minutes, and Mercer, a sure sign of their irrelevance. Rex Murphy takes a hilarious look at what he calls the stealth campaigns, as usual he hits the nail on the head with his observations. It should be required reading for all the Tory managers.