The Nigel impact
It's the things politicians can't control that often end up writing the script of an election campaign, whether it's a football fumble or a debate dig.
This week, Stephen Harper's former chief of staff Nigel Wright proved he could be the wrench that may throw off the well-oiled Conservative machine as he took to the witness box in the Mike Duffy trial.
For In House panelist and National Post columnist Andrew Coyne, Wright's testimony painted "an overall portrait of the cynicism and central control" in the PMO, but Coyne said the boss — in this case, Stephen Harper — still holds some responsibility.
"You're responsible for the culture of the workplace that you oversee," Coyne said on this week's In House panel.
"You are the top person, the buck stops there, even if you didn't know. If the culture was 'don't tell the boss', you're responsible for that as well."
When it comes to gauging the impact Wright could have on the Conservatives' campaign strategy, CBC's host of Power & Politics Rosemary Barton said in the short term, it's obvious.
"Mr. Harper is not talking about the things he wants to talk about," she said. "The questions (from journalists) are getting increasingly aggressive. The answers aren't changing. That's how he's decided to approach it."
"The problem is that the longer you're in a knocked-off message, the harder it is to get back on track," she added.
Coyne was on the same page. "It certainly knocks you off your game, and any day you're not able to put out your message is a day wasted. On the other hand, this is such a long election campaign...his calculation may well be that we can ride this out."
Tom Flanagan, former Conservative strategist and senior advisor to Stephen Harper, doesn't believe Wright's testimony will be that damaging to the Conservatives' campaign strategy.
"This obviously is not a good story for the Conservatives no matter how you spin it...but I don't see how anything Nigel has said thus far inflicts any further damage to the Conservatives," he told The House.
"You can get past things with time," Flanagan said. There are nine more weeks of campaigning before election day.
"If I were part of this, I'd be saying, 'let's not panic over this, we're going to have time to get the narrative back to the points that we want to deal with."