And this was a good day?

So as Paul Martin chats with his G8 buddies at Sea Island and prepares to lay his head to sleep, he must surely be hoping for a peaceful slumber, one to help recharge those batteries. If it is to be, they had better keep the cel phones turned off. For the news from the home front is not particularly good, as the Liberal campaign suffered yet more bizarre happenings to add to the expanding list of woe.

Martin’s Tuesday got off to a rousing start with word that the Liberal riding association of Brampton-Springdale near Toronto has decided that they don’t like having a candidate “selected” for them, and instead will turn their support to the NDP candidate, Kathy Pounder. Ruby Dhalla was chosen by the Liberal deep thinkers to be the standard bearer for the riding, without need of consulting the actual folks in the riding. Instead of kowtowing or arguing that decision the riding association has taken their own counsel, having chosen to vote with their feet. Now that’s fighting the democratic deficit!

The smoke was still smouldering on that little fire, when up popped up the smiling visage of Sheila Copps, Sheila who last was heard threatening to take her fellow Liberals to a political tribunalover the Hamilton riding debacle, has decided to come to the aid of her party. Sheila has taken to making personal appearances around Ontario and Quebec, apparently at the invitation of the Martin team. One awaits the video from Hamilton as Sheila and Tony Valeri go door knocking together. In between appearances Sheila offered up her take on the campaign thus far, and well if Paul Martin was looking for a little pat on the back he’d best keep looking. Sheila says that she hasn’t seen an electorate so annoyed since the campaign of 84, which resulted in a slaughter of the Liberals and the accession of Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives to the halls of power in Ottawa.

Things are apparently so dire that that old gang of Jean’s is being re-assembled to help bring in the vote. John Manley on finance, Stephane Dion on constitutionals, all that’s missing is Alfonso Gagliano on fundraising and Jean Chretien offering reminders on ethics and it’ll be old home week. Suddenly the “new” Martin team is looking rather familiar. Interestingly enough at the time of their original departure, they hinted and warned of dire days ahead for the new leader. The prophets have now returned to the temple!

Then the Bishop weighed in with an opinion or two. The controversial Bishop of Calgary, leader of that city’s Catholic flock, took pen to paper and put together a piece for church bulletins this Sunday in Calgary. The most Rev. Fred Henry accused Martin of moral incoherence over his stance on abortion and same sex marriage. The Bishop went on to say that despite the fact that Martin is described as a devout Catholic his public stance on the two topics, is a source of scandal in the Catholic community. Martin had just finished warning the country over the shrillness of the Harper agenda, when news broke of the Bishops broadsides. Mind you Martin got off easy compared to Jean Chretien. Last year the Bishop said that Chretien’s soul was in jeopardy over his drafting of the same sex legislation. Martin will probably be thankful to just be considered morally incoherent.

As the day wound down and Paul and George and the rest of the G-8 had their snacks, there came word of a defection from the Liberals to the Conservatives. Senator Ann Cools, a Trudeau era appointee to the upper chamber threw her support behind Stephen Harper, claiming that the Martin months thus far have been a disappointment. Cools who became the first black woman to become a senator first made headlines in the 60’s, as part of a group of University students who took over Sir George Williams University in Montreal, trashing the computer department. She has been controversial through out her career, and frequently has gone against the current of the Liberal party. At first glance one would not suspect that she would find a comfortable home in the Conservative ranks but there she is expressing admiration for the “personal respect” for leader Stephen Harper, claiming that he’s “Canada’s hope for change”. This on a day when women Liberals were fanning out to paint Harper as having a hidden agenda to wreak havoc on the women’s movement across the land. The picture of a Liberal senator crossing over with words of praise is a nice counterweight to all the shrillness of the Liberal attack today.

Before he hits the hay, perhaps some late night reading with his brownies and milk. The latest SES election poll numbers released tonight show the Conservatives leading the Liberals by a margin of 2%, 34% to 32%. The NDP hold 20%, support the Bloc 11% and the Greens 4%. Undecided Canadians make up 22% of the total, giving the Liberals something to aim for in the final three weeks of the campaign.

All in all a pretty hectic day for Martin and he wasn’t even in the country, a few more developments like these and he may want to stay in Washington til Friday and take in Ronald Reagan’s state funeral. Out of touch for a few hours in quiet reflection might be better than having the blackberries crammed full of crisis management.