Call the Copps we've been robbed

Sheila Copps has slept on the issue, given it some thought and for Paul Martin the news is not good. Copps feeling cheated by the happenings in Hamilton-Stoney Creek Saturday night, is urging the Liberal party to hold a recount. One which will get to the bottom of the disqualified candidate problems that ran throughout Saturday's vote. Martin loyalist Tony Valeri was announced the winner of the nomination on the weekend, but the way the process evolved seemed to taint that announcement right from the start. Originally nominated without a vote total being given, Valeri quickly took to the stage to apparently seal the night's events. Only after the vote totals were finally released did things get interesting, Copps losing by less than 300 votes, which coincidentally seemed to mirror the amount of disqualified votes in the voting.

Bad Optics, making for bitter politics. Copps at the time said she wished to reflect on the events of the day, and stayed out of the public eye (or as much as she could possibly live with) before resurfacing with her request today. At the same time, she called on the RCMP to investigate some irregularities with the telephones at her campaign office.

For the Mounties the entire Liberal party must seem like a constant chronic complaint call, go here, go there, check this out, check that out. There's a prowler in my yard, send a car. Come talk to my noisy neighbor please. No wonder the perception of crime rates are rising across the country, the Mounties are far too busy chasing Liberals around, to concentrate on all the other crooks.

For PM the PM, the continual campaign of Sheila will only go to underscore the divisions in his party, and the darker underside of politics in this country. The news out of Ottawa today was that Martin was putting his party on a campaign footing, making plans to take his agenda to the Canadian public. It should make for an interesting time for Liberals, trying to sell the idea of democratic reforms to the Canadian public, while at the same time some Liberals are claiming that democracy is anything but alive and well in the Party.

One senses that the Leadership Honeymoon is now long gone. A Spring vote may be on the wish list for Martin, but it could be a tricky situation for him. If his party continues to put forward an image of corruption, revenge and arrogance, the population may tire of the show. That once thought of landslide majority, somehow doesn't seem so certain these days.