Democrat Obama has edge in race for White House: Harper
Interesting comments from Harper on the US election race. I have got news for the opposition parties...don't expect the George Bush stuff to stick this time. Canadians have seen Prime Minister Stephen Harper since 2006 and realize they have no reason to fear the usual "hidden agenda" smears that have become too predictable and are no longer credible. It will be interesting to see how this Canadian race takes shape with an election campaign going on at the same time South of the Border.
-Darryl
Democrat Obama has edge in race for White House: Harper
OTTAWA — Stephen Harper has let the world in on a little secret - he thinks Democrat Barack Obama has the edge in the race for the White House.
"I've been following it very closely," the prime minister observed Sunday as he bantered with reporters just before his own campaign plane took off for Quebec City.
Pressed for a personal prediction on the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, Harper at first demurred, suggesting anything he said would be misinterpreted.
After a pause, however, he went on to admit: "I've always said it's the Democrats' to lose."
He was even less reticent about control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, which are also up for grabs in the campaign south of the border.
"I still say it's the Democrats in a walk in Congress," he said.
Harper and his Conservative government were embarrassed last spring when a leaked Canadian diplomatic memo raised questions about Obama's stand on North American free trade.
The memo, purportedly based on a confidential conversation with an Obama aide, informed Ottawa that the Democratic candidate's past criticism of NAFTA was merely for U.S. political consumption and shouldn't be taken too literally.
The leak was widely seen as costing Obama the Ohio presidential primary then under way and sparked allegations that the Harper government was deliberately trying to undermine his candidacy.
The prime minister, who denied those assertions and later apologized to Obama over the affair, was more circumspect when Republican John McCain visited Ottawa in June.
Harper took care to be out of town at the time, as McCain painted himself as a free-trading ally of Canada in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada.
The prime minister said then that he'd held "good discussions" with both Obama and McCain in the past and considered them both friends of Canada.
He also said that although he was watching U.S. electoral developments with "great interest" he was also watching them with "great neutrality."
It now appears there are limits to his interest.
Asked Sunday whether he'd seen the Republican convention speech of vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Harper replied in the negative.
"I went to bed," he said. "I had a campaign to prepare."
