Pre-debate post,

I'm at the TV studio in my journalism program, where a bunch of our buddies are waiting for the the debate to begin. They've 

There's about fifteen minutes until the debate starts. So far, the candidates have walked out in front of the cameras and posed together. It looks really awkward when they try to smile. I suspect that they're not in their element, posing and pretending to be best buds. They're in their best element when they're going for each others throats.

I'm excited to see how Ignatieff does this evening. I've never been impressed before when I saw him speak, but he and his party have been fighting a good election.

Thoughts on candidates:

--Layton is sporting a cane, and it's kind of endearing. One of my buddies, Alex Ballingall, thinks he looks like the Monopoly Man, just needs the cigar and top hat.

--Gilles Duceppe's face is a mass of primary colours: blue eyes; red Face; yellow teeth.

--Ignatieff makes me laugh when he tries to smile. He looks like he's grimacing.

--Then again, Harper wins for fakest smile. He looks remarkably like the Galactic Emperor.

We've seen his softer side before. We weren't taken in.