dumont

The status quo reigned tonight, with the PQ winning in two of the three by-elections, as predicted. Charest’s Liberals won in Hull. The ADQ was shut out completely, garnering nary a second place finish – despite two star candidates and a patented ‘blame the immigrants’ campaign in Bourget. “The ADQ drifts toward marginality,” reads the headline on canoe.ca.

Am I, like, totally hallucinating the once-celebrated BFFness that was blossoming between the federal Tories and the Action democratique de Quebec? Did I imagine the fact that Stephen Harper found time to swing by Mario Dumont’s riding last December, just to hang out? Because according to the L. Ian MacDonald Headline Generator, things are – once again, still, for always and ever – super-duper-spectacularly-awesome for the Conservatives in Quebec, despite the fact that the ADQ – and Dumont, personally – are in the midst of a graceful swan dive to the bottom of the polls.

In fact, L. Ian seems to be suggesting that Dumont’s collapse is actually good news for Harper, even though I swear, just a few months back, he was one of the people tut-tutting with approval over the prospect of an alliance between the two parties, given that the ADQ supporters were ostensibly the most likely converts, as far as votes for the federal Tories.

Once again, it becomes sadly apparent that I am just not smart enough to appreciate the omniprescient strategic genius of The Smartest Prime Minister in the History of Ever. Thank goodness for Deux maudits anglais, the latest addition to the macleans.ca blog family, who will undoubtedly will be able to explain it all.

UPDATE: Colleague Wells weighs in,