The Star this morning has a very good passage summing up where we are so far in the Federal election:

Officially, Liberal spokespersons are saying their hopes remain buoyant. "We are confident that when Canadians are asked which prime minister they want, they will choose Paul Martin with a comfortable majority government," Steven MacKinnon, communications director for the federal party, said yesterday when asked about Tobin's remarks. But off the record, candidates and party workers say they are not sensing any great affection for Liberals among the public and there is some grumbling that the campaign organization, dominated by die-hard Martin supporters, is too blinded by long-time loyalty to the leader to contemplate anything but the rosiest scenarios. The real prospect of minority government could radically change the dynamic of the campaign, as voters start to look less at what divides the political parties and more to areas where they would form alliances or coalitions. All the political leaders could face tough questions about which one of their platform positions represented bottom-line conditions for co-operation with other parties. It also heightens scrutiny of the smaller parties, such as the Bloc Québécois and the NDP, who could well hold the balance of power in any situation where neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives won more than 154 seats.

Maybe its because I was a kid, but I found the 1970s interesting times in Canadian politics with the close elections and minority governments. But others may not be so keen. It will be interesting to watch the reaction in the next week or two as the likelihood of a four-way minority with something roughly like 50 seats for both the Bloc and NDP and 100 seats for both the Liberals and the Conservative starts to gel in the public's mind.