As Tom Mulcair took centre stage during Thursday’s leaders debate, he moved the NDP into a position where Canadians aren’t used to seeing the party.

The NDP is within striking distance of forming a government after the Oct. 19 election. But in a horse race like Canadian politics has rarely seen, so are Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

Last night’s debate performance established both Mulcair and the NDP as credible on economic issues – or at least no less credible than their Conservative and Liberal rivals.

The debate focused on job creation, energy, infrastructure, immigration, housing and taxation.

Historically, the NDP’s Achilles’ heel has been its image as a basket case on economic issues. Free-spending, high-taxing, anti-business socialists.

Mulcair’s pledge to run balanced budgets moved the NDP to the centre of the political spectrum and out of the political hinterland on the extreme left the party occupied for close to 50 years.

All three parties clung to the positions they staked out a month ago.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper insisted his government made the best out of the bad economic cards it was dealt, especially since the 2008 recession.

Liberal Leaders Justin Trudeau hammered away at his message that a stronger middle class is the key to strengthening the economy. He declared war on the wealthiest 1% of Canadians, saying he’d go after them for more tax in order to reduce the burden on the middle class.

And Mulcair maintained an NDP government would balance the books by increasing taxes on big companies, making them “something resembling their fair share.”

In public opinion polls, the NDP is in the middle of the pack, but with such a tight logjam, there is not significant difference in the parties’ standings.

Mulcair has moved his party to the centre of the political spectrum – a place where Canadians are generally most comfortable. By promising balanced budgets, suddenly, for the first time, the NDP has staked out ground considerably to the right of the Liberals’ turf.

Trudeau landed a good shot against the NDP’s plan, suggesting its pledge to have balanced budgets will fall by the wayside when, once in power, they play the same game every party (including his own) has played. An NDP government would say the financial figures they’ve inherited are actually worse than they anticipated, then plead, “Oops the numbers are worse than we thought.”

Mulcair should be seen as the winner of the debate, not for a knockout punch, but for finally demonstrating some credibility on the economy. None of the leaders’ performance stood head and shoulders above the others. Harper stayed the course and Trudeau continued to show he might be ready, despite what Conservative attack ads on TV say.

But the stakes were highest for Mulcair in the second debate among the party leaders.

In the first debate Aug. 6, Trudeau had the most to lose. He needed to prove he was ready to be on the national stage. And he did.

Last night, the pressure was on Mulcair to prove he and the NDP deserve to be take seriously on the economy. And he did.

Polls say the campaign for the Oct. 19 vote is a close-run thing. Thursday’s debate didn’t do much to break up the logjam.

But in this marathon of Canadian election campaigns, there’s still more than month for any one of the parties to break away from the others.