On the margin

So Ian Urquhart wrote a column last week -- and yeah, I double-checked the name this time! -- that was headlined "How MMP could sneak to victory". In short, his column was all about how the pro-MMP side on the referendum could eke out a win due to a number of factors. Sample quote:

Yet when the votes were counted, the proposed new system came within three percentage points of reaching the required 60 per cent threshold. The reason why, according to one post-referendum analysis, is that voters in B.C. were impressed that the new system had been recommended by "people like us" in a citizens' assembly.

So Urquhart is worried that a momentous political change could happen if -- and only if -- 60% of Ontarians vote for it, with at least 50% support in 2/3 of the ridings. And his editor decided the appropriate headline was about "sneaking" to victory.

Meanwhile, yesterday, the Star endorsed keeping the status quo, where 37% of voters got to form the government in 1990. But, you see, that's a manly margin of victory -- a whopping 5.2% difference between the NDP and Liberal polls led to the NDP winning twice as many seats! Not like those sneaky reformers, sneaking in with their sneaky 60% margins of victory. Those dirty sneakers.