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The Progressive Conservative party has been in power more than 40 years now, but there were signs through the campaign that the dynasty’s grip on the province was faltering.

A series of opinion polls throughout the campaign showed the PCs falling behind the NDP and Wildrose.

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Get out your Mayan calendars. The end times are upon us.

Only two elections I know of resemble the whirlwind of Tuesday night. The unwinding of the Smallwood regime so many decades ago in Newfoundland is one. After 23 years, and it took two elections, the great, invulnerable Smallwood machine tasted dust, the Liberal party he owned since Confederation sent tattered, humiliated and broken into the political wilderness.

The second was the Kim Campbell/Brian Mulroney catastrophe (it’s fair to spread the blame here) that saw the national PCs collapse into near total oblivion. Only two MPs survived the wave of national disgust that blasted the great party of Macdonald into territory and number normally reserved for crank parties.

From the outside the obliteration of the PCs seem to hinge on two factors. Alison’s Redford’s haughty and privileged tenure as premier, and the lethal aroma of entitlement and complacency it exuded, is the first. Politicians can get away with many things. But do not, do not really tick off voters on matters of personal style. Especially in Alberta. Was nothing learned of the success of the legendary Ralph Klein by the Redford Tories? He knew the importance of keeping on good — almost personal — terms with Mr. and Mrs. Alberta.