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Longtime friend-of-wmtc ALPF alerted me to a terrific political site I wouldn't have known about: DemocraticSpace.com. He works in the news business, and said:

I just want to pass on that I have been pretty hard at work preparing graphics and boards for our broadcast election night. What I have been building is making me sick... CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY THIS, CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY THAT. If I have to cut out another photo of that beeny eyed weiner and place it on a board that says "Canada's New Prime Minister" I'm going to be nauseous. I actually felt a little better yesterday afternoon when our producer handed me the predictions for every riding and it only had 131 seats going Conservative. That's around 20-25 short of a majority.

The site is democraticspace.com that we have been using.., It's pretty cool. Here is the riding prediction page...

Those number have been going the right way in the past few days thankfully... They once had it at 145-150 Conservative.

It also has the breakdown of strategic ridings where an NDP votes should swing Liberal and vice-versa. My riding is one that Liberal supporters should swing NDP for this election to stop the Tory. I going to do my part and vote NDP.

Wrye also posted some interesting notes from the Democratic Space blog.

Important:

DemocraticSPACE does not endorse strategic voting (i.e. where voters cast their ballot for their second choice party to prevent a less favourable party from winning). We believe that Canada should explore options of adding an element of proportionality into our electoral system to ensure fair and accurate representation in parliament. See "Making Every Vote Count: Towards Fair Representation in the Canadian Parliament". However, strategic voting happens in Canada. DemocraticSPACE.com believes that it is better to make informed choices than misinformed choices. Therefore, this guide is meant to help voters who are thinking of voting strategically.

Are you in a position where your first choice party/candidate cannot win your riding? Are you thinking of voting for your second choice party/candidate? This guide is meant to inform you of whether voting strategically in your riding or not can make a difference.

In order for a riding to qualify for strategic voting, we feel 3 conditions must be met:

1. It must be a close 2-way race (i.e. the two other parties must be within 5%)

2. The chances of your party winning riding are remote (i.e. support < 25%)

3. Small number of votes will make a difference (i.e. < 1 in 3 voters).

Guides then follow for all three parties.

Thanks, guys.

Watching predictions - and, on Monday, returns - is so different here, with four parties to consider, and seats by ridings, instead of the (insane) winner-take-all state by state system in the US. Allan and I will be glued to the TV on Monday night.

I'm feeling more hopeful every day that Canadians will come to their senses and that ALPF will not have to be nauseous for long. Of course that may be an illusion. Either way, we'll soon know.