He didn't get more votes. He got about the same number of votes as last time. Basically, it's the dirty pool: he demoralized the Liberal base, vilified the leader before Canadians had a chance to judge him on his own merits, and basically convinced a bunch of people to stay home. That, plus some vote-splitting as the NDP picked up the soft Liberal vote, did the trick.
I do think it's hilarious that he targeted Igatieff so thoroughly and so effectively, but never saw Layton stealing Quebec out from under him and Duceppe at the same time. But the NDP has some work to do in Quebec; the support is very clearly a protest vote, and the voters will need an awful lot of reassurance that the NDP has their best interests at heart. It could easily swing back to the Bloc next time - a humbled Bloc, yes, but the Bloc nonetheless.
In any case, if you want to convince a country that someone is bad news, letting them govern unrestrained for four years is a good way to do it. Rather costly, but effective.
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I do think it's hilarious that he targeted Igatieff so thoroughly and so effectively, but never saw Layton stealing Quebec out from under him and Duceppe at the same time. But the NDP has some work to do in Quebec; the support is very clearly a protest vote, and the voters will need an awful lot of reassurance that the NDP has their best interests at heart. It could easily swing back to the Bloc next time - a humbled Bloc, yes, but the Bloc nonetheless.
In any case, if you want to convince a country that someone is bad news, letting them govern unrestrained for four years is a good way to do it. Rather costly, but effective.