The notes strategists slipped to their leaders minutes before yesterday’s debate:
Andrea Horwath
• You’re a woman. Use it. Mentioning a conversation you had in a female changeroom makes half of the electorate feel like they belong to a special club and the other half feel oddly titillated.
• Play up northern base. The seats are a lock, but pandering makes it seem more like you care about the little guy.
• Whenever possible, make it clear that you are the most conservative, tax-crusading, budget-balancing leader in the debate. Orange Ontarians love it.
Dalton McGuinty
• These are the names of twenty cities in Ontario. Use them in a single answer: London, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Ajax…
• You know who never gets knocked down? Those inflatable clown punching toys. Move like one.
• You know George W. Bush’s patented raised-shoulder-hands-out-vague-squint-half-laugh? Use it whenever possible.
Tim Hudak
• The camera is more important to look at than Dalton.
• Dalton is more important to look at than the camera.
• Don’t, under any circumstance, mention a recession of any kind.
• Deny you ever used the ‘foreign worker’ language. No one’s going to whip out their phone and play the clip.
On a serious note, a couple observations:
• Hudak is a much stronger surface debater than he is given credit for. Polished style, shifting fluidly from camera to opponent. Made consistent eye contact with McGuinty all night, followed good advice to refrain from doing the same with Horwath (voters remain uncomfortable with male intensity on a female candidate during debates). His reaction shots were very, very poised. Talking point heavy, however, and understandably vague at times. Not a great suit. Overall, a good performance.
• Horwath is the NDP’s most gifted leader in Ontario since Rae (I said leader, not premier). Extremely likable, well dressed, and surprisingly on message considering reports of her spacey performance in Northern debate. Used perceived “access of womanhood” to provide good twist on Hudak and McGuinty’s tired Joe-the-Plumber tales. She is also quite refreshing as a female politician, one of the few that comes off strong and principled without falling into a Haley-esque ‘kinda bitchy’ frame. Succeeded in avoiding landmines in her platform, made easier because attacks on her were limited. Clearly her fist big debate, however. She lost energy and faded after first hour.
• McGuinty was clearly coached to be more animated, perhaps for the worse. Moved his arms, head, and torso way too much, to the point where shots were framed wider as the night went on. His job was to hold on and deflect, and in that he succeeded. Highlighted the plusses of his record and dismissed the blemishes. Quite surprised he didn’t play the ‘there was a huge freaking recession’ card more often. Terrible reaction shots. Used a lot of gimmicky (and, in the case of the ‘created more jobs than the rest of Canada combined’ line, misleading) language. Not a fan. Not a great showing, but good enough to neutralize anyone else’s gains. Also, ludicrously well-cut suit.
The takeaway? It is a joke that we only have one televised debate. This should change.
