by David Swick – Halifax Daily News – 29 July 2003.

Some seats are safe. Some seats are hopeless. And some seats are tantalizingly within reach. As the campaign moves into its final days, look for the leaders to spend most of their time in ridings they just might, maybe, hopefully, win.

In metro, there are 16 seats, and more than half are impossible to call. In the rural mainland and Cape Breton, too, many ridings are considered extremely close. Here are 10 seats that are up for grabs. If the election remains close, these 10 could decide the provincial outcome.

• Dartmouth East: Jim Smith held this seat for the Liberals for 19 years, but has retired. Four years ago, Smith edged Terry Degen of the Tories by 264 votes, and Degen is back again. They are up against Joan Massey of the NDP.
• Shelburne: Elections do not get any closer than this one did in ’99. Conservative Cecil O’Driscoll and Liberal Clifford Huskilson tied, and O’Driscoll was awarded the victory after an official pulled his name out of a box. Huskilson, who represented the riding for years, is back for another shot. If it’s a tie again, let’s hope special dispensation is made — and both are awarded seats.
• Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage: NDP MLA Kevin Deveaux defeated a Tory challenger by a slim 84 votes last time, his second straight election. This time, Deveaux is up against local councillor Harry McInroy, who is running for the Conservatives. Also in the race is Liberal Brian Churchill.
• Pictou West: Fluff Baillie won this seat for the Tories last time, slipping past the NDP’s Charlie Parker by 147 votes. Baillie has since retired, and Parker, who won this seat in ’98, is running again. The Tory banner is being raised by Paul Veniot.
• Halifax Atlantic: John Buchanan held this riding for the Conservatives for more than 20 years; then, Robert Chisholm of the NDP was in for a decade. The Tories are represented by city Coun. Linda Mosher, the Liberals by former musician Ian McKinnon and the NDP by Michelle Raymond. All three major parties believe they have a good shot.
• Preston: This small riding just north of Dartmouth is one of several in the province that has voted for each of the three major parties in the past three elections. Created in the early ’90s to increase the likelihood of a black MLA, Preston has fewer than half the voters of most ridings.
• Conservative MLA David Hendsbee is up against city councillor and former MLA Keith Colwell of the Liberals and the riding’s lone black candidate, the NDP’s Doug Sparks.
• Annapolis: Conservative backbencher Frank Chipman is in a tough battle against Liberal Stephen McNeil in an area that historically moves back and forth between the two parties. In ’99, Chipman beat McNeil by 761 votes.
• Dartmouth South-Portland Valley: Another riding that has been won by all three parties in the past three elections. It’s presently held by Tim Olive, minister of Natural Resources. Olive won for the first time in ’99, and became known as one of the legislature’s most partisan players. He is up against the NDP’s Marilyn More and Liberal Colin MacEachern.
• Cape Breton Nova: New Democrat-turned- Labour Party-leader- turned-Liberal Paul MacEwan represented this industrial Cape Breton riding since 1970. After nine successful elections he has stepped aside, and is managing the campaign of Liberal Mel Crowe. He faces the NDP’s Gordie Gosse, who lost to MacEwan in ’99.
• Halifax Citadel: A battle of the titans; whoever wins will be a giant killer. It’s Health Minister Jane Purves versus Liberal Leader Danny Graham versus former NDP MLA Peter Delefes, in another riding the three major parties have won in the past three elections.
• Purves is one of the stars of cabinet. Graham can expect some votes that almost always are awarded to party leaders. And Delefes has been going door to door since January.

dswick@hfxnews.ca