But, before my political self was overwhelmed by my Inner Lover, I was most impressed my Gilles Duceppe.
Perhaps because he cannot even fantasize about becoming Prime Minister he seemed completely at ease in his role, and so knew where to point his guns - primarily at PMPM, but also, while saying, "I think we agree," at Jack Layton.
Duceppe, during one of the one-on-one sessions, made a good deal of noise talking about how he and Layton were "agreed" about foreign policy military financing.
It was brilliant. In a mere 2 or 3 minutes, he eliminated the NDP in Quebec. Everyone knows the NDP has no chance of forming the next government and, by claiming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the NDP on the large, international issues, he made it clear to Quebecers that a vote for the NDP is a wasted vote, whereas a vote for the Bloc - which also has no chance of forming the next government - is a vote that might lead to a Parliamentary coalition.
Sadly, I got no sense that Layton even understood what Duceppe was up to.