Does the NDP Matter?

Richard says yes.

I tend to agree, but I don't think the scenarios Richard plots out will come to fruition. His proposals make sense... that alone should tell us that they won't happen.

I will say that I am skeptical about the NDP capitalizing on this relevance (especially if they're spending a lot of time arguing about their name). I think Layton has done a decent job, and a far better job than I thought he would, but I don't see him leading the NDP too far into the mainstream. Even if he is able to put forward a reasonable platform in a reasonable manner, I don't see him then advancing it in a reasonable way.

I think he'll continue to keep the NDP (or whatever they wind up calling themselves) strong and somewhat relevant, but he'll probably always keep them just slightly on the outside looking in... and I think that's what they'll prefer.

Of course, if he shaves the moustache, all bets are off.