Forecast of Tuesday's Post Debates Comments

Susan Delacourt: "Paul Martin seemed to be half asleep until values were mentioned, then he was almost evangelical (in a good way) in denigrating Harper as 'an enemy of every single moral and ethical value that makes this country great. And I, for one, will not stand by while this man ruins this great country."

James Travers: "Paul Martin performed like an old shoe, not much to look at, but easy to slip into and out of. I suspect that a whole lot of people who tuned in are going to be dropping into Payless before January 23rd."

Tom Clark: "Paul Martin was in fighting trim and came out swinging when the topic turned to Quebec. He blasted at Stephen Harper that 'if you haven't lived in Quebec, then you can't understand Quebec, and you certainly can't help Quebecers who are trying to keep this country together'."

Greg Weston: "The Liberal's unhappy prospects for election took an even more desperate turn toward the end of the debate. The soon to be former Prime Minister piled one empty platitude on top of another until even his own eyes started to glaze over. Meanwhile, Stephen Harper stayed entirely within his bandwidth; not too hot, not too cold, just right."

Andrew Coyne: "When will it end... Repeating unfulfilled Liberal promises from elections past and bringing to the debate old enemies long gone from the battlefield. I kept waiting for Martin to bring up Arthur Meighen, for heaven sakes. If Martin is to have any hope in this campaign, then he has to start living in the now. Otherwise, I just wish someone would put him out of his misery. Maybe he could finish the campaign on a slow CSL boat to Vanatu or something."

John Ibbitson: "This campaign remains to be decided. No one was overly impressive, nor destructively bad, and nothing was done or said that would swing a meaningful number of votes in meaningful ridings. It will be hard to say, though, what Paul Martin can do between now and E-Day to turn things around."

Sheila Copps: "This guy has no shame; seconds after he was denying any connection to the Chretien government, he was taking credit for everything from the Clarity Act to staying out of Iraq. This even though in caucus meetings he had spoken vigourously against both."

A Certain Grit Blogger: "Paul Martin got em exactly where we want em. His calm, statesmanlike stance blew Harper out of the water and promises to make his tenure in Stornaway even briefer. Its great to be a huge underdog going into the last two weeks of the campaign."