NDP continue push into Liberal Ridings

One poll does not a trend make. Other polls give different results that do not put the Liberals and NDP nearly as close. It will take a few days to see if there is any real trend towards closing the gap between the NDP and Liberals. A recent NANOS poll had the Liberals trending up to 30 percent! It seems to have been an anomaly. Nevertheless I suppose spouting one poll may invigorate the NDP campaigners.

NDP continue push into Liberal ridings
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — The confident New Democrats are riding the momentum of favourable poll results right into the heart of Liberal-held seats to close out the campaign’s second-to-last weekend.
NDP Leader Jack Layton’s campaign convoy will truck into Liberal country in Newfoundland and Labrador and Thunder Bay, Ont., while Liberal Leader Stephane Dion tries to hang on to the seats his party has.
The leaders of Canada’s two main opposition parties took their sights off Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Saturday to target each other.
A Canadian Press Harris-Decima post-debate poll released Saturday suggests the NDP has closed the gap with the Liberals and now trail by just two points.
Layton hopes to surf the surge in the riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North, where the Liberals edged the New Democrats by about 400 votes in 2006.
Meanwhile, Dion’s campaign plane swoops into the Grit-held ridings of Churchill, Man. and Iqaluit, Nunavut.
Layton hopes to build on his tour of Atlantic Canada on Saturday, where he called on Liberals to abandon Dion.
NDP workers have even started to hand out new signs to supporters, which bear the slogan “United with Layton.”
The Liberals rolled to victory in several Newfoundland ridings in the last general election, but the emboldened New Democrats will be in St. John’s Sunday looking for a breakthrough.
In Montreal, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe attempted to pull away more Conservative voters by saying that Quebecers would be making a serious mistake if they helped Harper win a majority government.
Duceppe told reporters Saturday that Harper follows the same polices that allowed U.S. President George Bush lead his country into a financial crisis.
Saturday’s Harris-Decima survey also suggested that Harper’s dream of winning a majority government may be slipping away after his party dropped two points to 35 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Greens also received a minor debate bounce to 13 per cent support.
The rolling poll represents 1,247 interviews conducted Tuesday through Friday and is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 — though the margin is much higher for regional samples.
Harper and Green Leader Elizabeth May also spent Saturday campaigning in Atlantic Canada.
The prime minister plans to take a break from the hustings and May says she will spend all her remaining campaign time in her own riding until voting day Oct. 14.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe visits Ste-Hyacinthe, Que. and Montreal, where he will join a coalition of social and cultural groups in a march against the Conservatives. 04:38ET 05-10-08