According to CTV's Mike Duffy, the Liberal Leader has already considered the possibility voters will hand his party second place -- and decided he will nevertheless do his best to hang on to the keys to the PMO.
"Senior Liberals tell me even if they're 30 seats behind the Conservatives they will insist on the opportunity to meet Parliament and they will bring forward a left wing speech that the NDP and the Bloc can support and therefore keep Stephen Harper out of the prime minister's office," Duffy told CTV Newsnet.
"Their biggest fear is that if he's there even a day or week, people will start to think of him as prime minister. Paul Martin's strategy is to try to hold on to power no matter the cost or the result on June 28th."
As for Harper, his chance of grabbing power is a much longer shot.
Short of winning an outright majority, his opposition status heading into the vote means he must hope Martin loses on a vote of confidence.
Only then might he be granted his own chance to fill the government benches. Source.
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