Jane Taber: "Michael Ignatieff enters 'Dion-land'"

OUCH... coming from the Liberal-friendly likes of Jane Taber, that title's gotta sting.

Michael Ignatieff enters 'Dion-land'
Jane Taber

1. From vote debacle to polling woe. Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals are sliding back into Stéphane Dion territory, according to a new EKOS Research poll.

This is not a good set of numbers, especially for the Liberals, pollster Frank Graves says. “After pulling back to parity they seem to be following a slow downward spiral into Dion-land.”

The EKOS poll shows the Conservatives with a clear lead (outside of the margin of error) – 33.3 per cent support of the electorate compared to 27.7 per cent for the Liberals. The NDP have 15.9 per cent; the Bloc is at 9.8 per cent and the Green Party has 10.4 per cent support.

In August, 2008, just before the last federal election was called, Mr. Dion had about 32 per cent support; that number later slid down to 24 per cent during his darkest days.

Dion-land is scary territory for the Liberals and the connotation is even worse. Mr. Ignatieff replaced Mr. Dion in December, 2008, coming in as the party saviour. But with the poor showing in the poll today and the missteps of late (this week’s loss of their own motion on reproductive health), some Liberals may be questioning the leadership change.