You Heard It Here First.

This article presents predictions for upcoming elections. British reporters covering Tony Blair's campaign in 2001 amused themselves by playing" battle-bus bingo": they wrote down Blair's favourite cliché phrases on strips of paper, paid a pound each to get into the contest, then each drew three strips of paper at random. Paul Martin rewarded this apple-cheeked British Columbia Liberal's bootlicking fealty with an appointment as the party's nominee in Burnaby-Douglas. Last week Peter Mansbridge's column announced that political leaders' tours are a waste of time, which is why the CBC will have its own bus travelling the country avoiding politicians. If Peter leads The National with more stories from the CBC bus than he does from Paul Martin's, Stephen Harper's and Jack Layton's, I'll buy him dinner.