EDMONTON - There was no winner in Thursday night’s leaders’ debate but there was a loser and that was Thomas Mulcair.

Mulcair and his New Democrats have been leading or tied for the top in 21 of 24 national polls since the beginning of June even though, as party strategists themselves say, Canadians have yet to get to know Mulcair well. Their mission for the last few months and the first weeks of this long election campaign has been to introduce him to the voting public.

Thursday’s debate then was a glorious opportunity to do just that but it was an opportunity lost, partly because Mulcair’s opponents had a strong night — particularly Green Party Leader Elizabeth May — but also because Mulcair himself seemed less the politician than I and many members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery have seen over the last several months.

Just before the writ was dropped last week, in fact, I followed Mulcair around southern Ontario as he engaged in two or three campaign events a day including rallies in Conservative-held ridings attended by hundreds of enthusiastic well-wishers.

On the stump, in media scrums and during some policy announcements over that week, Mulcair was confident, he easily mastered details of issues he was asked about, and he displayed a warm “retail” touch as he met and interacted with everyday voters.

I’ll concede that, because I had seen Mulcair perform so well that week, my expectations for his debate performance may have been too high. But I didn’t see much of the politician on the debate set in Toronto that I’d seen in Windsor or Hamilton or Brampton. But even still, I’m not sure Mulcair left much of an impression on voters as a result of Thursday’s debate.

As for Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, certainly, the pummelling he has taken from the Conservative marketing blitz had lowered my and most Canadians’ expectations of him so much that, as Conservative campaign spokesperson Kory Teneycke quipped before the debate, all Trudeau had to do to win the debate was show up wearing pants.

But, of course, he did more than that, delivering a few well-rehearsed lines and, in calling out Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a liar a couple of times, provoked Harper into looking impatient and annoyed at “Mr. Trudeau.”

A couple of times Trudeau complained about the attacks Harper’s team has levelled at him. He shouldn’t do that as it sounds whiny. He should do what he did in his closing address: Present himself as a caring father ready for some new challenges. That’s the most effective way to put the lie to the “dumbo” caricature of the Tory attack ads. Though, it must be said, his hair did look pretty good Thursday.

As for Harper, how could he not be pleased with the debate result? He wins if the 65 per cent or more of Canadians who will not vote Conservative cannot decide between Trudeau or Mulcair. As I watched the exchanges Thursday between the NDP and Liberal leaders, my sense is that the Harper-haters were left with no hands-down winner.

The Conservatives hope it stays that way. A Liberal Party that stays in third place will help vote splits in dozens of ridings across the country break their way — and give Harper an historic fourth term in office.