For NL Liberals, the Beatings Will Continue Till Morale Improves ...

Danny's crew went 3 for 3 tonight in by-elections back in my homeland. You can see the results here if you're interested.

Turnout was low in 2 out of the 3, and downright pathetic in the third. People will debate the meaning of that - here's a quite smart Liberal's analysis of the results.

I've (literally) got a train to catch, so I won't go into detail, but the short version, as I see it (from far-too-many-kilometres away, keep in mind) is that 2 of these seats were Tory strongholds - even when ol' Brian T. was at the top of his popularity, Kilbride and Ferryland went PC. The third, Port au Port, is a bit more of a swing riding, but I don't think too many of my compatriots were shocked to see it stay "blue".

What's more, the big money scandal going on back home - more details to follow, but almost any one of the fine NL blogrolls blogs to the right of this screen can give you details - has touched all 3 parties. So you probably had a bit of "plauge on all your houses" thinking going on.

But still and all: as at least one of the Ontario by-elections that were also held tonight demonstrates, people can toss elect an oppo member to a formerly-government-held seat in a by-election, if they're good-and-angry enough to do so.

At least for now, the Newfoundland & Labrador PC's haven't inspired that anger, and for sure, the NL Liberals and NDP (who were never expected to be a factor in these races - their strength is much more localized in a smaller # of districts) haven't found a way to either create that anger, or capitalize on whatever remnants of it that do exist.

An interesting question is that effect will this have on the 4th & final NL by-election, scheduled for next week. As Ed H. (the "Liblogger" I linked to above) suggests, tonight could help the Liberal candidate, in a roundabout way - but from all the way here in T.O., it looks like the Libs have a heck of a hill to climb.

More later.