Still, I am very much opposed to this prorogation for the reason stated in The Economist editorial. This practice of suddenly and quite unexpectedly dismissing the Commons whenever its discussions become unduly bothersome tends to make Parliament accountable to the Prime Minister rather than the other way around.

Beyond that, the politics of this move are more complicated than usual, since the immediate impact in the polls has been to cost the government some percentage points. Since the Conservative machine has the best polling and opinion analysis that money can buy, is it really possible that they didn’t see this reaction coming? Is this drop in the polls just an accident they didn’t anticipate? Or did they go ahead with this gambit knowing full well it would cost them and benefit the Liberals?

I lean toward the latter interpretation. I think this is a gift to keep Ignatieff afloat in his own party and to allow him a chance to get up off the floor and avoid dropping below the 25% line, which was close at hand only a month or two ago. The real fear for both Liberal and Conservative strategists is that a fully flat-lined Liberal Party would open a door for Jack Layton and the NDP to make an historic breakthrough, something neither of them wants to see.