OMG, you guys — can you feel the political electricity in the air as we count down the hours before Michael Ignatieff is slated to take the stage in front of a standing-room-only throng of journalists with the fate of the country — or at least, this government —  resting on his patrician shoulders? Or, alternately, have you already been spoiled by Le Devoir, which is reporting that the prime minister is about to score another point in his ongoing blinkoff against the Official Opposition?

Anyway, on the off chance that this press conference turns out to be something more than an attempt to rationalize his party’s now seemingly pathological cognitive dissonance over its confidence in the PM’s competence, ITQ will be liveblogging from the NPT, so be sure to check back at 11am for full coverage.

In the meantime, the ITQ polls remain open, so feel free to cast your vote if you haven’t already done so.

10:47:58 AM
Greetings, and welcome to the must-see political news probably-non-event of the century, or at least the first part of the day! ITQ is on location in the fourth row of the historic National Press Theatre, where the tensions are — pretty much nonexistent, although the intragallery pre-pesser banter is no less witty and erudite for all that. Before we get started, though, an equally witty and erudite reader sent along the following bit of verse. Competing jingles, limericks or epic poems welcome:
ITQ’s Poetry Corner,
The grand old Count of York(ville)
He had ten thousand men
He marched the up to the edge of the cliff
And marched them back again.

10:55:51 AM
You know, for a guy who’s about to make the opposite of news – or so, I should note again, for the record, we all assume – this Ignatieff fellow sure can bring in the crowd — I’ve not seen the press theatre this full since our last parliamentary crisis, and that one was actually *interesting*.
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