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There are several interconnected points that can be said about the Lake of Fire episode. First, there were pre-existing doubts about how deeply entrenched the social conservatism of the Wildrose Party was before the Lake of Fire. Concerns about their tolerance towards gays and visible minorities had been raised. But the Lake of Fire provided the evidence.

Second, many voters in 2012 made up their minds on who to vote for during the last week, weekend, and even day of the campaign. Third, the PCs, knowing point #2, timed their Lake of Fire leak (through a fake twitter account created by a PC operative) to take advantage of that last week of the campaign. Finally, many political observers believe that the Lake of Fire episode (and what it represented vis-a-vis the Wildrose party) was the decisive moment in the 2012 campaign.

On Monday night, in the last week of the 2015 campaign, a story broke that had echoes of Lake of Fire. But this time it could gravely damage the PCs.

In the lead-up to the 2015 campaign, there were several problems that had emerged with the nomination of PC candidates. Internal party nomination races are often the dirtiest in politics. Rules are often broken: ineligible voters (non-Canadians, non-constituency residents, even dead voters), improper usage of party records, financial irregularities, etc. In some cases, these rule violations are ignored, but in other cases (minor or serious infractions) candidates are disqualified by parties. Party leaders have also disqualified winning candidates (for a variety of reasons) and appointed candidates in other cases. In addition, there is no independent arbiter such as Elections Alberta to monitor internal party elections.