Pubdate: Tue, 25 Oct 2005
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2005 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Clifford Krauss

CAMPAIGN RULE 1: BE NO MORE VIRTUOUS THAN THE VOTERS

Quebec voters are a famously tolerant lot. They elect many gay and
lesbian politicians, and they seem to think that political leaders who
don't admit to having smoked marijuana are lacking in joie de vivre.

One premier in the 1970's ran over and killed a homeless man and then
was re-elected.

So nobody was particularly surprised when Andre Boisclair, a
39-year-old gay man who banters about his sexuality on television talk
shows, became the instant front-runner in the leadership race to head
the separatist Parti Quebecois.

The real test of Quebecers' broad-mindedness began last month,
however, with a published report about Mr. Boisclair's lively night
life in Quebec City -- complete with excessive drinking and cocaine
use -- while serving in the provincial cabinet in the 1990's. The
article described "wild weekends at the end of which you can't recall
where you left your rented car."

Mr. Boisclair immediately faced a media frenzy, which only gathered
steam as he first ducked all questions. Although he finally
acknowledged cocaine use, he still refuses to say how often he took
it, when he stopped taking it and where he got it.

In the United States, this sort of revelation usually means it's time
to think seriously about that career in lobbying. But Mr. Boisclair's
poll numbers did not drop. In fact, they soared, at least initially,
with more than 70 percent of Quebecers saying in polls that his
cocaine use was not an issue.

"It's a way of showing compassion and sympathy with people in
trouble," said Alain Gagnon, a political scientist at the University
of Quebec in Montreal, explaining the results of several polls.
"Tolerance is something that defines the Quebec psyche. It comes from
our history as a dominated group."

According to Leger Marketing, polls of voters aligned with the Parti
Quebecois, Mr. Boisclair's support climbed from 53 percent to 64
percent immediately after the disclosures. The strongest of his eight
opponents, a former finance minister, Pauline Marois, dropped from 24
percent to 18 percent. In recent days, polls show the race has begun
to tighten a bit.

How the Parti Quebecois leadership race turns out when as many as
137,000 party members vote by telephone from Nov. 13 to 15 is no small
matter. The current Liberal premier, Jean Charest, is slumping badly
in the polls after a series of missteps and growing labor unrest,
giving the Parti Quebecois a good chance to win the next provincial
election expected in 2007 or 2008.

Mr. Boisclair and the other leadership candidates have all promised to
hold a third sovereignty referendum soon after the next provincial
election if they win. The separatists lost the last vote in 1995 by a
razor-thin margin, and separatist sentiment is running strongly again
this year because of scandals that have ensnarled the national government.

Afraid of a backlash, Mr. Boisclair's opponents have hardly mentioned
his drug use. At a two-hour candidates' debate Wednesday night here,
it came up only once -- and obliquely at that -- when Ms. Marois, in
her closing remarks said: ' 'We will soon be at a decisive turning
point in our battle. To succeed we must be beyond reproach."

It was a remark that reflected the concerns of many separatist
intellectuals. Editorials in Le Devoir, the leading separatist
newspaper, have questioned whether Mr. Boisclair is a man with the
judgment and character to deal with the inevitable crisis that would
ensue after a referendum victory as Ottawa struggles to hold the
country together.

Pierre Martin, a political scientist at the University of Montreal,
said Ottawa might unleash federal law enforcement to investigate Mr.
Boisclair's racy past if Quebec independence loomed.

"This is a hardball game," Mr. Martin said in an interview. "He's
going to have this hanging over him: taunts, investigations, more
possible revelations. And that could make people more hesitant to
follow him in this adventure."

Mr. Boisclair remains an eloquent politician with a Harvard degree and
matinee idol good looks whose youthfulness stands in contrast to an
otherwise aging and lackluster group of politicians in the leadership
race. Nevertheless, Mr. Boisclair's surge was all the more surprising
given that he at first responded to the reports awkwardly and
defensively, parsing his answers and accusing the media of harassing
him.

When a reporter first sought comment on the damning newspaper report,
Mr. Boisclair responded by saying "Thank you. Bye." Later, as he
accused a gaggle of questioning reporters of blocking his way in a
hallway, he seemed to crack. ' 'I am under a great deal of stress,"
he said. "I don't need this type of physical aggression on me."

In an interview, Mr. Boisclair said he could not fully explain his
bump in the polls. "I think people appreciated my honesty," he said.
"That said, I never had a drug problem. I used drugs but I never had
a problem with dependence." Mr. Boisclair's resilient poll numbers
have inspired a good deal of political chatter.

Lise Payette, a former Parti Quebecois cabinet member, suggested in a
column in the tabloid Journal de Montreal that Quebecers "have a
weakness" for candidates who mirror the off-color image they have of
themselves. "We Quebecers fancy our heroes a little bit cheeky,
defeatist, hesitant, unsure of themselves, alcoholic, a little or even
a lot unreliable, a little bit fraudulent or even a little drugged,"
she explained. "We like to say they are like us."

One cartoon in the Montreal daily La Presse advised Ms. Marois, Mr.
Boisclair's strongest rival, that she should shoot something into her
arm to spruce up her image. Just last week, Ms. Marois admitted she
once smoked marijuana as a teenager but didn't like it. Her poll
numbers went up slightly. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake