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Why, not fair? Simply this: Mulcair has run a fine campaign. He has made no egregious mistakes. He performed well in five TV debates, pitched his platform at the sensible centre-left, and took a principled stand, knowing it would wound him, over Zunera Ishaq’s right to wear a veil at her citizenship ceremony, which has been re-affirmed, yet another time, by the Federal Court of Appeal. If the NDP lose the election and possibly even the Opposition Leader’s chair because Mulcair took that position, universally unpopular in Quebec, they will have lost for the best of reasons. It’s rare to see a politician put principle over politics.

But they still will have lost, and the reaction from the NDP’s old guard — left-wingers who’ve been forced to gnash their teeth in the dark as their centrist leader promised balanced budgets, tax cuts for small business and no tax hikes for the wealthy — is not likely to be merciful.

More likely, should the party lose significant ground in the House of Commons, Mulcair will be reminded he used to be a Liberal and shown the door. Politics ain’t fair.

But we digress: There’s the brass ring to consider. Who will seize it, should Mulcair continue to fade into the home stretch?

There are two intriguing threads there, it seems to me.

The first is that Harper has shown remarkable personal resilience, in the face of challenges that would have poleaxed lesser politicians. Amid the general stunned surprise that Trudeau can give as good as he gets in televised debate, Harper’s consistently impressive, steady performances have been eclipsed, to a degree. But it is not coincidental the Conservatives still lead — and by a widening margin, according to a Mainstreet/Postmedia poll published Tuesday. Lament the transparent use of the niqab as a wedge though one might — and I do — there is no denying the tactic has had its intended effect.