2009-06-05 06:22:03
Just to highlight how important the five ridings are in this campaign, both the NDP and the Conservatives are criss-crossing the south shore today. Rodney MacDonald will be in Lunenburg with Peter Zwicker this morning before heading out with Carolyn Bolivar-Getson in Bridgewater this afternoon and then it's off to Liverpool with Kerry Morash this evening. Darrell Dexter will be in Lunenburg this morning for a campaign statement at the Fisheries Museum at ten, before heading to Mahone Bay with Pam Birdsall. He then will be off to Wolfville this afternoon. Stephen McNeil will be in and around Halifax this morning before heading to Stewiacke, Guysborough and Antigonish.
Two political scientists say the chances of the New Democrats forming a government may be decided in close races in rural Nova Scotia on Tuesday. David Johnson of Cape Breton University says there's strong evidence the N-D-P has consolidated its lead in most Halifax ridings. He says a breakthrough victory would be the result of a ``two-decade haul'' of ground work. Jennifer Smith at Dalhousie University also says she believes the party's hold is strong in Halifax. However, both long-time observers of party politics say it's much harder to call what will happen in smaller ridings. That includes ridings like Queens, where just a few hundred votes in the south shore district may decide the outcome in three-way races. Smith notes when the N-D-P won in Queens in the last election, there was no Liberal candidate, and this race is ``too close to call.'' (The Canadian Press)