Sept. 20: Where's the campaign coverage?

Yesterday I speculated that the opening of Parliament in Ottawa was drawing Ontario's political leaders to eastern Ontario. Wrong.

And, I wondered if the efforts by the various campaigns on Monday would end up buried in newscasts and the morning papers. Right.

First off why I was wrong. The Ontario International Plowing Match tops Parliament. It's the big campaign draw in eastern Ontario. Trying to get the rural vote was the focus of attention on Tuesday.

The leaders, all four, put on their dungarees and visit the plowing match in Prescott. I'm not sure how this is organized, though it is tantalizing to picture the four of them in a plowing competition. If you don't know how to win a plowing match, (and I don't) feel free to check out the rules here.

Here's how the tractor plow winner is judged:

The contestant in Class 5 earning the highest total number of points will be declared Ontario Champion Tractor Plower. The contestant from Class 5 earning the second highest total number of points will be declared the Reserve Ontario Champion Tractor Plower.

I'm guessing that since the parties in Ontario can't agree to more than one debate it is pretty safe to bet a plowing competition is out of the question.

Now, here's the part about being right.

A quick look at the Toronto papers and, yes, the campaign does get a mention but it is deep in the inside pages. The Globe and Mail finds space for one quick column -- about that plowing match. The National Post has a column speculating about a minority government. Both ignore yesterday's campaigning completely. The Toronto Star and the Sun do have coverage of yesterday's efforts but it is deep inside.

So what is going on?

The easy answer is -- not much. But while the media focus almost exclusively on the leaders, candidates across the province are working overtime to try to win votes one at a time.

I called up Jagmeet Singh. Singh is the NDP candidate in Bramalea-Gore-Malton and he ran for the NDP in the same riding in the federal election last spring. He surprised everyone by coming within 600 votes of winning the riding. He told me that he'd looked at the newspapers this morning and noted that "they aren't talking about the campaign." He also said that there doesn't seem to be as much attention to this election as there was in the spring.

Then Singh said that he is focused on door-to-door campaigning and doing fewer media appearances than in the federal election. He said local issues, auto insurance and the need for full-time jobs are what voters want to talk about.

Andrea Mandell-Campbell is running for the Tories in Don Valley West against Liberal incumbent Kathleen Wynne. Campbell admits there are voters in the riding who are not paying attention but that "some are very engaged." As with Singh, Campbell is spending hours and hours going door-to-door, talking to voters. The top two issues in the riding are health care and transportation.

Don Valley West is a very diverse riding stretching from Thorncliffe Park in the south to the wealthier area around Bayview and Lawrence in the north. Campbell says "transit is the equalizer" because gridlock affects everyone's ability to get to and from work.

The Liberals are focusing on health care issues this week. Dalton McGuinty started his day at another Ottawa-area hospital and then, after that visit to the plowing match, McGuinty's bus headed to Kingston.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak had an early start in Cornwall before the plowing match. Hudak was scheduled to have two media availabilities and the campaign says he is spending the day at the plowing match.

Andrea Horwath also made the trip to the plowing match and was scheduled to stay in Eastern Ontario to campaign in Cornwall and Kingston.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner didn't get an invite to the leaders' debate next week, but he was included in Tuesday's plowing match festivities and he went on to Ottawa for an evening event.

So what party in the country has the best political antenna? The federal campaign may be just a memory but my vote goes to the winner of last spring's election. After a breakthrough election in the GTA, Stephen Harper's Conservative government came to the GTA for its big crime announcement this morning in Brampton.

My bet is the media will take another pass on the Ontario campaign but find space for the federal proposals on crime.