Did Harper decide to put that threat to quit out there in order to rally his Conservative base to his “strong leadership”? I think it has the potential to have the opposite effect, as does Accidental Deliberations:
After all, plenty of factions within the Cons - socons, small-government advocates and any remaining red Tories in particular, but potentially including anybody involved with the party based on any principle other than the pursuit of raw power - would surely have experienced at least some frustration with Harper’s top-down command structure and consistent stifling of inconvenient viewpoint..with Harper himself raising the possibility that he’d be gone as leader if the Cons can’t win the election, I have to wonder whether the effect may be to present a strong incentive to tank on Tuesday to those who wouldn’t mind seeing Harper gone (or those who just want to take his role).
I would add to The Jurist’s list that it may cause the rest of the political parties base core to become more highly motivated and to come out and vote for their political party to try and make Harper’s “threat” come true. What I mean by that is some user voter surveys I’ve seen indicate that the Conservatives base is usually the most certain they will come out to vote on Election Day for their Party. If this “threat” gets well publicized, and it increases the motivation of the other opposition parties supporters to come out and vote.. combined with what Jurist said.. Tuesday might be more interesting then what it’s already shaping up to be, as the polls narrow.
So, if you’re a progressive voter, and you have friends or acquaintances that are wavering on voting but who dislike Harper, pass along that little tidbit about Harper threatening to quit if he loses. If they moan about the polls showing Harper winning, mention that most polls are showing a tightening, and at this point, the polls are actually closer then they were at this point of the election race in 2006. That might give the extra incentive needed to them to go out and cast their ballot.
Well I’d take what he said with a grain of salt. He says one thing & does another - as we have all seen over & over.